#solar trials

[bruiserelliot]

I'm absolutely obsessed with the @professorhephaestus Solar Trials world and I love me some good hurt/comfort so I tried to do full comfort.

Context: the trio (Jenny, Teddy, and Eigan fought a big bear made of ice or something on Pluto and got good hits in and won but still got their asses kicked and this is some time after that)

Teddy groaned as he opened his eyes, trying to get his eardrums to work again. He could smell that really clean wood smell that came from the infirmary. Oh, that's good, ship was good.

Less good was the way everything felt heavy, just just really heavy and achey. And cold. Ohh, cold. Right.

Note to self: don't fight a space ice bear with a shit casting wheel. Bad time.

Any other note taking that might've gone on in his head stopped when a bright light shone in his eyes. He squinted at the person he could now see standing over him.

"Eigan?"

"I'm afraid not, Theodore, the prince is still recovering from your... unfortunate encounter with the Ursa Polaris." Teddy rubbed at his eyes, resisting the urge to groan again when he was finally able to get his vision to focus on professor Hephaestus. He looked... Weird. Like, less put together than usual. Course for him that meant a few locs out of place and a wrinkle or two in his fancy cloak, but like, Teddy could see it.

"You three, I take my eyes off you for a second and boom, gone. Off fightin a polar bear," a grumble came from beside the professor, and thankfully with a little less effort, Teddy could see captain Aubrey. "I'm glad you and Jenny noticed Eigan wanderin off but maybe next time bring him back instead'a followin him."

"Sorry doc, gotta do it, for science. No, woman, or martian left behind," Teddy replied, not bothering to sit up, or acknowledge the small smile Captain Aubrey graced him with.

Oh shit, no woman left behind. "Is Jenny-"

"She's fine, Teddy, pulled the two of you outta trouble with that cast of flame."

"Truly exemplary work," professor Hephaestus said. Teddy closed his eyes, ready for the inevitable comparison, but it didn't come. Small mercies.

He looked down at the thick blanket covering him.

"Thanks. That, that's good. Glad she's okay... Eigan's okay, right?" He fiddled with the blanket's edge.

"Eigan's resting up in his room. Finally got him to lie down," captain Aubrey muttered, sounding further away, then close again. "Stubborn kid didn't wanna leave you alone." He smiled down at Teddy and Teddy absolutely did not blush, no, no he didn't. Absolutely not. He was feverish, definitely feverish. Yeah, from fighting the ice bear.

"Theodore, I must commend you for your quick thinking in battling the Ursa Polaris," the professor spoke up. "A large, though admittedly ineffective casting wheel, was... Clever."

Teddy opened his eyes, blinking the spots away as he focused on the professor. Was that? A compliment?

The professor wasn't meeting his eyes, and his Rector crook was turning a bit in his hands. Shit was the prof being nice? Had he been worried? Y'know what, no, his head hurt too much for this, he was probably worried about Eigan and Jenny, and Teddy... Well he apparently did something right.

He could live with that.

"Uh... Thanks? I think."

"You're welcome. Kindly recuperate in a timely manner... If possible." Teddy raised an eyebrow as the Martian left, fixing his locs on the way out. Captain Aubrey chuckled.

"That man, I swear sometimes." He turned back to Teddy. "What he means is, ya done good kid. Feel better, and quit worryin us." He passed Teddy a mug of tea, helping the boy sit up. Teddy gratefully held his chilled nose over the tea. Thank god for Captain Aubrey, martian social skills were tough to decipher on a good day. Give him Dr. Aubrey's good ol' southern hospitality to smooth everything over any day.

"Thanks doc."

"Sure kid."

[ursulazandt]

behold my tom/jeff @professorhephaestus fanfic!

it was pretty hard to write to be honest, and i'm not entirely convinced i didn't completely butcher some of the source material, BUT i tried my best haha. might've gotten some of the years wrong too but oh well! was inspired by these posts (one two three four).

please enjoy!

In 1999, Tom Aubrey feels a very specific emotion.

He’s still getting used to Mars and, more specifically, martians. Most specifically, he’s still getting used to Hephaestus. There’s quite a lot to take in, and Hephaestus is his guide, though Tom can’t exactly shake the sense that Hephaestus wishes this wasn’t the case. Then again, they’ve worked together for some time now, and Hephaestus has just led him through “a much needed rudimentary 12-course introduction to Martian cuisine,” so maybe that judgment isn’t entirely fair. 

And Hephaestus has been showing Tom martian culture all over the capital. The two of them are exiting a debate and Hephaestus is, to his credit, doing his best to explain to Tom what the debate was about in the first place. Tom’s not really keeping up, though, and as his mind starts to wander he looks up at the inky black sky towards the stars. It’s all a lot, if he’s being entirely honest. Tom recalls his first spacewalk, how alone he’d felt in the vast emptiness of the universe. The stars were different then, in different constellations, but a similar feeling is coursing through him right now. Tom has a job to do now, of course, and he’s going to do that job as best as he can and maybe even better than that if he can swing it, but it’s overwhelming.

It’s then that, as they walk further into the ancient Martian capital, Hephaestus puts his hand in the crook of Tom’s arm in one swift, gentle motion, and Tom remembers he isn’t alone. He has Hephaestus. Hephaestus, who, for all his frustrations with Terrestrials and long pontifications that make Tom’s head spin, has been really invaluable this whole time. Hephaestus, who’s currently taking the time to carefully explain to Tom what is undoubtedly rudimentary knowledge to any Martian. Hephaestus, who really has gorgeous eyes, if Tom’s honest. Hephaestus, who has his hand in Tom’s arm.

It’s then that Tom feels that very specific emotion. And for a brief moment, it feels good. Scary, sure, but in that exhilarating way that you can’t help but come back to. A rush, a possibility, a hope.

And then Tom remembers, as he must. Remembers his job, remembers the reasons he’s on Mars in the first place, remembers the students, and remembers who Hephaestus is. He pushes the feeling down as quickly as it came up. It’s unprofessional at best and a liability at worst, Tom reminds himself, because this is not the first time he’s felt this and it probably won’t be the last, if he’s entirely honest.

“Are you alright?” Hephaestus asks.

“Huh?” Tom says, looking up at Hephaestus and then quickly looking away. “Oh, uh, it’s nothing.”

Hephaestus nods curtly in response, and they continue on their way.

Tom isn’t going to think about it. Because it’s nothing.

Of course, Tom does think about it, and in 2001 he will admit it isn’t exactly nothing. But nothing will come of it, he’s sure.

And Tom’s wrong again in 2005, of course.

[greggs-mistflower]

A Deal in the Amrayn Market

A tale in the Solar Trials universe of @professorhephaestus, alias of Ngozi Ukazu. (Am I tagging this right?)

Increscent Neptune loomed ever to the southeast, 8 degrees wide, above the spaceport that cradled the Venus High Flyer, the interplanetary liner the three Humans had arrived on. They stalked under the arch of the Dead Beast Gate. They were wary, for Amrayn Market has a shady reputation for an Aphran market, and that is a most shady reputation indeed.

Hovering in the air was the wailing reedy music of a tampira, in the mode of longing and loss. Bitter incense drifted from the door of a run-down temple of the Worm God, pacing the Humans as it was swept slowly down the street in the cool poleward trade wind. Next to the temple door was a prostrate figure sprawled on the ground, its face stretched in the rictus of a becc-dream, the gnawed remains of the narcotic root itself clutched in its hand. Whether it had sold its robes for the root, or someone had looted its clothing, mattered not at all to anyone.

Being warned, the Humans kept to the side of what passed for a street in this quarter, keeping to the tired sunlight that reached Triton. Only vague cloaked figures could be made out in doorways. One hissed when it had judged that a Human looked too long. Curiosity was a deadly crime in Amrayn Market.

The Human on the right, the one with some facial fur, started when he felt his pocket twitch. He leaned casually towards the leader in the center, murmuring in a Human tongue, "The first-gold resonator just went off".

The three shambled to a halt in the street, casting their eyes about as if casually. The furred one gestured slightly to the store they'd just passed. The old carved pillars of flame-tree arched over, holding the sign The Goods of the Third Merl Clan.

Parting the curtain of leather strips (what leather, a prudent mind would not contemplate), they carefully looked and stepped within. There was a small room with various statues and amulets behind translucent panels of utworla sandfish skin. One stood forth, evidently the shopkeeper. The three Humans had enough Trade Patois to be able to converse.

The first words were customary, the shopkeeper praising its rare and priceless (yet affordable) goods, the Human sneering at the evident common and shoddy quality. The leader glanced again at the befurred one, who nodded slightly.

The leader then commented, "It is beyond hope that you have something worth seeing. We might be interested in something … purer and more shining than this."

A shopkeeper needed to be skilled in interpreting vague hints. It spoke sharply to a collared servant to mind the main shop while it went through another curtain to a hidden chamber. Not long after, it called the Humans to come within.

There was a small table covered with deep purple-ultraviolet cloth. There was a centerpiece frame holding an inscribed shining yellow disk. Even the Humans could tell that it appeared to be the plate of an astrolabe.

The hairy one palmed the little detector and reached towards the disk. The shopkeeper clicked its teeth and gestured sharply with its wand. "It is the custom of the market. Goods are not touched without payment."

The furred one withdrew his hand with an affronted word, though he was fully satisfied. He glanced at the leader again and again nodded slightly. The detector had gone off strongly as it approached the disk.

The haggling did not last too long, considering. They settled on a price of 60 Venusian trade talents. The sequence of actions was a sticking point: neither was willing to hand over what they had before getting what they wanted. The Humans finally gave way. The leader offered the 60 talents on the spot for the disk, but warned, "We have heard that Aphrans have … loose ideas of justice, and the art of vendetta. Humans too have our own ideas about justice, but we prefer quick, large-scale destruction. We can afford to do this because we have the power to obliterate those who cheat us."

The shopkeeper bowed its body in acquiescence, for tales of Humans violence and wars had reached even the outer system. It began to draw up a receipt. "Shall I indicate the price as 95 talents?"

The Humans bristled. "Do you think to charge us more than you have agreed?!"

The shopkeeper made the gestures of humor and placation. "The honored Humans misunderstand my halting words. The price you will pay me remains 60 talents. The receipt that you may use to be reimbursed will say 95 talents. Humans coming into danger are surely not paid enough for their work?"

The leader gathered the two others with his eyes, and got their eager agreement. Even without that, it was a good deal. Their … organization would at last get a supply of first gold without the knowledge of the damnable meddling Martians, to experiment with … and maybe someday to surprise and displease the Martians.

The shopkeeper drew up, with fine brush strokes the receipt on utworla belly skin, and carefully stamped on the green-infrared ink of a seal. "This is the sigil of the Third Merl Clan. You may compare it with the design above the door."

The shopkeeper asked whether the Humans had a shield bag, to keep anyone inquisitive from prying into their matters and perhaps interfering. The Humans had already been instructed about the prudence of shielding their property.

The Humans continued further into the market, to not draw too much attention to this shop. The shopkeeper curtly instructed the collared one to keep an eye on the place while it went up the stairs to the living quarters.

The shopkeeper curled inwards to the shop owner and spoke, "My honored Aunt-Husband. I advise you to get a message to Third Ortho-Cousin Dlokenar, suggesting that it betray us and our shop to Omerronar and his subbranch of the clan. And make sure to get a cut of the bribe."

The shop owner raised up its bulk and said, with silky outrage, "Have the mind-worms eaten your soul?! This is a fine location of great value! You would have us lose our living and our goods, and worse, to our hated High Leg rivals!"

The shopkeeper laughed in the Aphran way and explained what had happened below. It laid particular emphasis on the Human threat of overwhelming power. And also mentioned selling them a decorative disk (brass plated in mundane gold), which had been sitting atop a framework, itself sitting on top of the good purple-ultraviolet cloth, which was sitting on top of the first-gold bracelets that the shopkeeper had slipped off its wrists while setting up the table.

The shop owner admitted awe. "It is so good a location and so valuable a shop -- it is too much to hope that Omerronar itself will run the shop and be present when the Humans and their weapons arrive. Regardless, they will still suffer a great loss, in bribing Third Ortho-Cousin Dlokenar and then losing goods and people here."

The Aunt-Husband caressed the arm of the shopkeeper. "Ah, every day I rejoice that I claimed you from the ruins of your family campound! Now let us prepare swiftly, before the Humans have a chance to check the bag!"

(Author notes: lots of Old Solar System planetary romances had a disreputable decadent Orientalist setting for some of the action, like this. On the other hand, Solar Trials feels more optimistic & clean than this, more Original Star Trek than Star Wars, so if the mood here seems wrong, please let me know.)

[transwicky]

Honestly I feel like Tom would be a weird cousin/uncle for Bitty and it makes me laugh.

Bitty finds out at his wedding that his weird uncle is married to a MAN.

Jack is shocked over the martian part.

Bitty isn't, he knew that already.

[unforeseen-idiot]

Crossover

ok not to be weird but can you imagine like Check Please but it was in like a Solar Trials is canon au (like it’s not the Check Please characters are in a Solar Trials scenario, more like the world where the whole solar system is populated and Earth has been aware of this since the moon landing kind of thing). Like imagine some random Martian coming down to Earth after finishing school circa 2013 and deciding to enroll at Samwell to play Hockey? Idk just thinking of Bitty, Jack, R&H, Chowder, Dex, Nursey, all the others, and especially Sh*tty on the same team as some rando Martian who enjoys the weird knife-shoe, ice rubber disk game.

[food-forever-friend]

The solar trials fic won't be done for like a week I'm getting beta feedback 🥲

😭 At least I've got something to hold onto for a week 💖💖💖

[alnair-jpg]

Happy Solar Eclipse Day!!

Enjoy but please don’t look directly at the sun!! (CHB’s medic will never forgive you.)

[bruiserelliot]

Love your Solar Trials fics, thanks for sharing them! 🪐🌌

Oh thank you!! I'm so glad you like them! 😊 I wanna try and do more involving Tom and Hephaestus as well as the apprentices 👍👍✨

[aroaceweirdos101]

❗SPOILERS FOR PART 3 OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM TRIALS❗

So with the new Solarballs episode's released, with Ganymede and Europa getting banished from the Solar System and another Planet X tease at the end(who has seemingly witnessed the whole trial), I have thought about two possibilities on how the next arc will go(that is if the two moons do meet the planet):

[jackobbit]

The forces of E.V.I.L. invade a shopping mall!

God, I just love drawing the goofs being silly, it’s like putting them in their natural habitat lmao

Eclipses design is still a wip, hence the full body elf costume, but I’m liking where he’s going so far!

I can’t wait to share more about these guys, I think I’m going to make an ask blog about them once the main fellas’ designs are finished! (So far the only ones left are Eclipse and The Boss, Ehehe)

[ID: A Magma drawing of Solar Flare, Bloodmoon and Eclipse from the Working for E.V.I.L. Au running through a shopping mall with stolen presents and Christmas decor. Bloodmoon is located on the far right, he is a red animatronic wearing a twin tailed jester hat covered in snowflakes, multiple belts, a ripped sleeveless shirt, devil horns and a long split tongue. He tilts his head back with a close-eyed, devilish smile as he squeezes a piping bag of icing straight into his mouth, he holds a present beneath his arms. In the middle is Solar Flare, a boxy orange and yellow robot with triangular shoulder pads and bent sun-like rays. They wear a set of deer antlers on a headband, as well as a small red nose. In their arms is a stack of wrapped presents that tip over. Their expression is blank, but they keep their eyes on the toppling over stack. To the far left is Eclipse, an orange and brown animatronic with small, thin rays placed between his larger ones. He wears a green and red elf costume, a black turtleneck sweater beneath, and a necklace that holds a star pendant. He looks horrified, as sweat drips down his face, he carries a large brown sack over his shoulder. Each character is outlined in white, in the background is a large Christmas tree and a visible second layer of the mall, with large display windows lining it. /End ID]

[deadal1enx3]

I absolutely loved the new episode, and I'm really excited to watch the new one next week!!

But I just, i just want someone to just tell Titan about his bullshit, (he does have a valid reason bit does have the same responsibility as Ganymede and Europa in the revolution). I really like how Luna and Titan are like always together, it's really cute. And also how Titania went to Titan to talk about this whole stuff was ALSO really adorable (⁠ ⁠˶⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ꁞ⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠˶⁠ ⁠)

I think i get why they defended the Earth so much, both of them know what Earth did was wrong, and how they approached the situation ( that the moon revolution became a bit violent) was also wrong, Luna didn't wanted Earth to get in trouble because he knows that he had changed and that the Earth situation is all sorted out. The only thing they needed to talk about was the gas giants' moons' relationship with them, that's they would need to talk about and now i hope Ganymede and Europa would talk about this!!!

Still, live, love, laugh Tuna (and every other ship i ship as a multishipper (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）).

[morsking]

if disco elysium had the danganronpa UI i'd kms. imagine debating measurehead and loading the "advanced race theory" bullet to fire it at the words on the screen.

[freyapoststhings]

more thoughts about the eclipse uhm.

What if. Instead of Artemis yelling at Apollo or them high fiving....

What if they were dancing. What if, every eclipse, they forget about the godly thing. They forget about any wars, or issues between them and just. Dance.

Someone draw this please.

[poisonmushroomfan]

Ugh! I forgot to post this yesterday but happy (late) birthday Lester!! (And also Artemis) and the solar eclipse as well :D!! (And plus my own personal human design for Artemis and also Lester (: )

[misterbardman]

I can not stop thinking of This Day Aria from MLP but make it Apollo from PJO. Like I made a whole au for this one song where Apollo is split in two (godly form/mortal form) with the godly being the more typical version we see but also more jealous, while the mortal version is basically post-ToN. Godly Apollo is Queen Chrysalis, Mortal Apollo is Cadence, and shining armor is pretty much any of Apollo’s lovers but my preference is Hyacinthus.

There is no plot, just him split in two and whoops now the godly side of him is marrying his lover while the more compassionate and character developed side is stuck underground somewhere.

[firesofdainix]

OKAY I caved and watched the solar system trials after a headache induced episode. The way Sun went and asked Jupiter about the 'science' of Ganymede and Europa's orbit was amazing and definitely gives them more tension.