-Maniacal laugher- Finished~

[Ranger of the North]

Cheerful...

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Wordlbuilding...
And an excuse to say caves overflowing with decomposing bodies

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ equinox
895 words
Lacuna felt the shift. Like a lock clinking into place.
She shuddered as she began to slip from her perch in the oak tree. Pain jolted up through her spine even before she hit the ground with a solid thunk.
She lay sprawled at the roots, arms and legs thrown out at awkward twisted angles, raven feather hair a tangled mess trailing over the ground. There she stayed as the sun arched into the sky. Ants tracked over her ankles and grasshoppers perched on her still chest while the dead air passed in and out of her stiffening body.
The sky darkened slowly and with the death of day light, Lacuna felt her body and conscious reconnect.
But there was something wrong.
Something so very wrong as she stood up, body and bones aching, skin scraped and torn open.
She could only hear herself. Only her own heartbeat, only her own thoughts, only her footsteps.
There was no singing from the brightening stars, the world didn't speak to her, the ether was silent.
Frightened, she fled down the path to the cabin, her home, where her mother should have been, but when she got there, it was empty and silent too.
Terror took hold of the young girl's chest and she ran back the path, calling for her mother.
As the night grew darker her sight began to fail her, something she'd never experienced before. The stars always lent her their brightest beams and she'd never had trouble winding them into circuits around her wrists to guide her way.
The moon rose, pale, distant, an ever watching cold eye that had no sympathy for Lacuna as the bushes reached out and clawed at her clothes.
It was almost midnight and the shift, from long days and short nights to short days and long nights would begin.
It was almost midnight, equinox was fading away. It was almost midnight and she was alone.
It was almost midnight and she couldn't find her mother.
It was almost midnight and Lacuna, who wandered the forests and the mountain all of her life, short though it may be, who knew the name of every stone and the distinct laugh of every flower, was lost.
The ground began to incline ever most steeply and instead of bounding down it deer-like or leaping from stone to stone with the grace of the catamount, Lacuna tumbled, her bruised forearms taking more cuts as she fell trying to protect her face.
She stood up, brushing the tears away from her face and calling out, not with her voice anymore, but with every part of her.
She'd been cut off. Cut off from the glowing stream that had connected her to everything.
She staggered forwards, twigs hanging from her tangled hair, her clothes ripped, hugging her hurting arms to her chest. The trees thinned abruptly as she started to climb out of a ditch and the ground stopped. Suddenly.
She stared at the strange yellow line running against the earth. It didn't seem....
She struggled for the right word, but one came to her eventually.
It wasn't natural.
Her eyes drifted up from that unnatural, not-right, not-normal, didn't belong there thing, and found that the ground continued being wrong. It wasn't stone. Stone was uneven, touched and carved by time and the elements.
This was flat. Too flat and stretched out too far.
Nervously she put her foot forwards, touching the yellow line with the tip of her toe. It didn't burn, it didn't bite, so she trusted it with the rest of her foot and when it didn't crumble she stepped onto it and looked further out around her.
It was an alien scene. A building sat on the unnatural earth, bright and straight and made out of something other than the wood of her cabin.
The doors slid open and...and people came out.
Lacuna's heart clenched.
She'd heard many stories, of stars and galaxies, universes and the utter separation of reality itself, but the silent voices never told of humans other than her.
There was five of them and they walked casually together, like a herd of deer ambling from the grassy woods to the edge of the lake. They came towards her but didn't seem to see her, eyes all on each other.
One of them looked up finally. About the same height of Lacuna, but with blue eyes. Blue eyes. No creature had blue eyes, not even humans. Blue was for the midday sky and the glint off the lake and the first flowers of spring. Not for eyes.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Lacuna almost started crying again, because, even though the voice was young, it sounded so much like her mother.
Or maybe everyone sounded the same, if there were other humans.
If there were five were there ten, were there twenty?
"Do you need help, are you lost," the girl came a couple steps closer "Are you hurt?"
"I...m lost," Lacuna managed breathily. She could sing rainstorms down from the mountains and coax the moon down to dance with her, but talking to another human was more terrifying than anything.
"Are you in town for the equinox festival?"
Equinox festival? But that had passed.
Lacuna's eyes travelled past the girl, to the sun that had just risen and she felt like she was breathing in ice shards.

[Ranger of the North]

Whaaaat? Creepy and sad, I need more! Also nice to see her make a reappearance c:

[TheSongOfTheStars]

I am seriously impressed that you even remembered her, I posted that almost two years ago!

[Ranger of the North]

I am seriously impressed that you even remembered her, I posted that almost two years ago!

Oh, oh wow, really? XD

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/eclipsed
1,134 words
The tripod wobbled as Kwet adjusted the thin legs, threatening to topple over the edge of the balcony.
He steadied it quickly, testing that the legs were locked into place before setting the heavy black box on top of it and latching it into place. He went about finishing his preparations, stopping every now and then to wonder if Aveth would even care, then he remembered how excited Aveth had been for the triple full moon, certainly he'd like this. Of course he would.
Kwet didn't know why he was worrying.
He glanced at the clock over the wall and noted with sense of dismay that Aveth was late. He hadn't decided to stay out tonight, had he?
Kwet was reaching for his commpad when he heard footsteps in the hall and he sighed in relief.
But the feeling was short lived when the door open and Aveth entered, accompanied by three Vives Kwet didn't recognize.
Kwet stared at them blankly, not really registering what was going on.
"Oh," Aveth paused slightly "You are here. I tried calling you a couple of times but you didn't answer your commpad. So I thought you'd probably decided to stay for an extra shift at the hospital again."
"Who...who are these people?" Kwet asked, voice and wings shaking.
"They're from work."
"Friends?"
"Not yet," one of they laughed and held out his hand towards Kwet in the customary greeting. Dazedly Kwet returned the motion, pressing his palm half-heartedly against the other's before dropping his hand away and continuing to stare at Aveth, his wings shuffling against his back.
"They'll just be here for a little while," Aveth said, sighing internally "We're just going to chat for a bit. I promise we won't disturb anything you're working on."
"Okay," Kwet nodded "I'm...just going to be on out here."
He scurried back to the safety of the balcony, shutting the doors quickly behind him, before he could hear any of the conversation, though he could still feel their eyes on him.
"Is he always like that?" the one who'd greeted Kwet asked, with a frown on his face.
"No," Aveth knew that wasn't quite true, but he wasn't being fair to Kwet. The doctor practically loathed surprises, even small ones "He just gets flustered easily. I should've thought about him having a project, he gets really wrapped up in these science experiments or whatever."
"Oh, yeah, well, don't want to keep a scientist from his science."
The conversation drifted back to what it had been before they'd entered the room and Aveth almost forgot about his friend out on the balcony, enjoying the chance to socialize.
Before he realized it, almost two hours had passed and it was completely pitch black outside.
"Is he just going to stay out there all night?"
"He will if I let him," Aveth shook his head "Alright, I'm going to drag him in."
"We should probably get going."
"No, it won't kill him to be in here for 5 minutes and chat."
The other three continued talking as Aveth slid the doors open.
Kwet turned to look at him, then his gaze travelled over Aveth's shoulder and hardened when he saw that the three Vives hadn't left yet.
"Come on Kwet, just for a bit? They don't bite I promise."
"No, I'm busy."
Aveth gave him a look. Kwet was sitting on the edge of the balcony railing, feet swaying in the air.
"You don't look busy."
"Just leave me alone Aveth."
"Come on Kwet, for me? It won't hurt you."
Obstinately Kwet hitched up his wings around his back and folded his arms around his chest "No. Busy."
"Listen, I'm really sorry I didn't check with you, really. But you did say you didn't mind if I had company over now and then."
"Yes, well, I never said I'd talk to them."
"No," Aveth had to admit "You didn't."
There was an uncomfortable silence that drew out over a long couple of seconds.
Aveth sighed and gave up "They'll leave soon and we can get some sleep."
"Fine."
Aveth shook his head as he went back inside.
A few more minutes of polite, but obviously strained conversation between the four of them, then Aveth did as promised and said goodnight to them.
"Well, that was weird," commented as they were practically herded out into the hallway.
"No kidding. He always goes on about how great his roommate is. I certainly didn't expect that."

Aveth hurried over to the balcony and opened the doors, not bothering to close them behind him again "It's safe now."
Kwet looked up from fiddling with the small black box that had been on the tripod "I'll come in in a minute."
"Oh come on, you can play with the box inside."
"I said in a minute."
Aveth rolled his eyes "Kwet. Come on. You're intolerable when you're like this. Inside."
Kwet gave him a dark look, but rolled his eyes back and slid off the balcony edge, box under one arm, tripod in his hand.
"What even where you doing out there, dare I ask?" Aveth took the tripod from him and set it up on the shelf.
"Nothing that'd interest you," Kwet replied shortly "Just another of my dull experiments."
"Don't be like that."
"Like what," Kwet practically threw himself down onto the nearest chair and continued fiddling with the box.
"What is that?" Aveth asked after a minute, sitting next to him.
"A camera."
"Why'd you build a camera? You could've gone and bought one. Teeth, you could've bought 4, considering how much you spent on all those parts."
"It's...a special one," Kwet said vaguely.
"Okay.... Why'd you build a special camera?"
Kwet didn't answer him for a long time and after a point Aveth thought he might as well give up.
"To fill the eclipse," Kwet said the words in a sigh.
"What eclipse?"
"There was an eclipse. Total eclipse of all three full moons," Kwet gave up tinkering and collapsed against the back of the chair "I wanted to show it to you."
"Why didn't you tell me!"
"I don't know..." Kwet thought about telling him that he'd wanted it to be a surprise, but in all honesty? "I forgot."
"Kwet...Kwet you could've still showed me, you could have invited all of us to watch."
"I know, I just... I don't handle these sort of situations very well!"
"It takes-"
"Practice. It takes practice," Kwet's voice took on a high pitched mocking tone "I know, Aveth, I know alright? It's seems like that's all anyone every tells me."
"Do you ever take the advice?"
Kwet hunched lower in his seat "Well. No. I guess."
Aveth gave a small, helpless shrug "Well, you can still show me the recording, right?"
"Tomorrow. I'm tired now."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ thunder in their eyes
555 words

Tovoth hadn't expected to run across any of Mahveth's soldiers, if he had, he wouldn't have volenteered so eagerly for the misson.
If he'd had his way, they'd have avoided the soldiers, it wasn't a battle misson, and all the soldiers seemed to be doing was playing with their human formling pets.
But he wasn't in charge of the misson and now he was hunched behind a rock, trying to keep the gasping warrior at his feet alive as blasts of energy whizzed around his head.
He ground out a cry of frustration as a stray shot knocked his heat scanner from his hand and out from the shelter of the rock. He started to reach for it, but yanked back as Veem kicked it back towards him as he slid next to Tovoth.
"What are you doing!?" The doctor screeched, snagging his instrument and returning to his patient "Are you hurt?"
"No...I'm being chased," Veem panted out breathlessly, clutching his hands to his chest "By Gaitraic."
Tovoth nearly stabbed the already almost dead warrior "You what! Go somewhere else! I can't have him here! What did you even do!?"
"I picked up his pet, I think he wants it back," Veem uncurled his fingers, revealing a particularly tiny human with wildly tousled brown hair and a set of wide glazed over eyes staring around.
"Ugh! Yuck, why would you do that!?"
"I dunno, if he wants it, we should like, kill it right?"
"No! Do you have any idea how attached to those things they are!? If he finds out you killed it, he wouldn't stop until he crushed you!"
"So what do I do, put it back?"
"Just put it down, put it down-" Tovoth froze as a shadow cut across him and his wings drooped so low they scraped the ground as he looked up into Gaitraic's face. For a split second he couldn't move beneath the raging set of blazing eyes. Then a long broad wing whipped out and smashed into him, flinging him to the ground.
Tovoth shrieked, pulling his wings up and wrapping his arms around his head as he curled into a shaking ball of panic.
Veem yelped and ducked backwards as Haravon swung his blade towards Veem's face. Acting on pure impulse, he flung his wings open and started to fly backwards, still clutching his prize.
Gaitraic ignored Tovoth and shot after Veem, sword gripped in both hands as he swung it, the tip reaching for the cracks in Veem's armor.
"Put it down!" Tovoth shouted as he finally sat up "Put it down Veem!"
Veem's eyes widened as if he'd forgotten what he was holding and with a wide sweep of his wings he carried himself far enough away from Gaitraic to dare to drop to his knees and dump the human onto the ground before jumping straight up and spiraling away. Gaitraic darted forwards, scooping the child up in his arms.
Just as Tovoth had hoped, Gaitraic was too concerned with his charge to continue chasing Veem, but he sent a scathing glare upwards and with a faint chill Tovoth wondered if just touching the little pet was idiot enough to get Veem marked down. He'd never seen a look quite like that before, quite such like a thunderstorm.
Don't touch the human pets

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ frailties
1,657 words
Tovoth awoke to white lights and the familiar sound of a beeping Pulse monitor. Slowly he opened his eyes and waited for them to focus. It took much longer for it should have for the room around him to become clear.
The first thing he saw, besides the medical equipment, was a tall thin Vive, standing close to him, their head bowed and eyes locked on a commpad.
"Um, hello?"
She looked up as he spoke.
"Where am I?"
"On the star craft Essar," she replied shortly "In the medical bay."
"Yes, I gathered that much," he rubbed at a sore spot on his neck and sat up "How long have I been here?"
"About 4 Cycles."
"I what!? I've been unconscious that long?"
"No, you've been unconscious much longer. More about..." she paused and tilted her head, counting silently on her hands "7 1/2 Cycles? Considering from what Veem told us happened on the freighter."
"You can't be serious. There was no reason for me to be unconscious for so long."
"Oh, you have no idea," there was a touch of sympathy in her voice.
"No idea, about what?"
She set her commpad down and stepped closer "How are you feeling?"
"Terrible," gingerly he stretched his wing out "This was bent."
"Yes, we were able to fix that. Anything else?"
"Why?" He gave her a suspsicious look "Are you expecting something in particular? Where's Veem?"
"Oh, Veem," she stepped aside and gestured towards another medical bed. Veem's oversized frame was hunched awkwardly on the too-small space and he didn't seem to be moving.
"What happened to him?"
Tovoth started to slide off the bed but he crumpled back as his knees refused to support him.
"Hold on, hold on, you can't get up yet," she place her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to lay the rest of the way back down "Your system's still renewing itself."
"Wh...why?"
"You had a virus."
"Yes, I did, but it went dormant and my system purged it."
"Well, partially, but when we rescued you and Veem from the freighter, we were forced to use a jump technology to escape a gravimetric blackout and apparently the frequencies we endured from the jump, reactivated the virus that was still in your body."
Tovoth's eyes widened "How did you get rid of it?"
She laced her fingers together, curling them inwards towards her palms "Did you ever hear of the plague on Harron?"
"Yes... that's what it was in my system...it's a long story."
"Veem told me. Anyway, I knew someone who'd been there when the plague broke out and was afterwards contained, she told me the 'cure' so to speak."
"I didn't even know there was one. The first time the virus went dormant, the procedure was experimental to say the very least."
"Yes, well, this one was too."
"What was it," Tovoth's eyes kept traveling past her to Veem's unmoving body.
"Light transfusion."
His gaze snapped back on her, eyes wide with shock.
"Yes. To fully stop the Dead Light, it requires a Light transfusion on the moment the victim's Light goes still."
"And Veem...?"
She nodded.
His head lolled back and he stared blankly at the ceiling for a full minute.
"Tovoth?"
He blinked once "Would you mind giving me a minute?"
"Of course," Trance disappeared from his line of sight and he heard her footsteps fade.
He sat up again, feeling dizzy, but this time not from the pain. He couldn't believe Veem would do that.
He remember back on the freighter, when he thought Veem was going to abandon him, and slowly a sense of guilt began to penetrate him. Even though he'd done so much, risked so much.
He'd never expected Veem to really care about any of it, never really expected him to even be capable of returning the favor, so to speak.
Because, Tovoth had to be honest with himself, no one ever was.
But giving Light? Light was how they measured their live, Light, was in a sense, time incarnate, at least to Vives. A drop could be translated as a minute, or an hour, or a day, and all the Light inside of them amounted to what was their average lifespan.
Veem had literally sacrificed part of his life to save Tovoth.
He pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead, forcing himself to take a long breath, feeling overwhelmed.
"Tov...oth?" Veem voice scraped out across the room, pulling the doctor's attention to him.
"Veem, Veem what were you thinking," Tovoth opened his wings, forgetting that one had been damaged and flew over to Veem, his whole body lagging through the air from the residual aches "You could have died for Seventh's sake!"
Veem closed his eyes at Tovoth's loud voice "But you were dying."
"We've already established that doesn't matter! I can't have you going off, doing insane things like giving me your Light!"
Even though his eyes were closed, Veem winced and managed to pull himself a little further away from Tovoth.
"Veem. Veem. Do you understand? I did everything I possibly could to keep you alive, I don't want all that hard work to go to waste," Tovoth lowered his voice slightly, but there was a nagging note that didn't leave "Veem."
"I know. I just...Yeah, I know."
"Good. Never, ever do anything like that again."
"I won't," Veem curled in on himself and rolled over onto his other side, leaving Tovoth staring at his wings and shaking badly.
Tovoth turned, trying to force his hands to steady and found himself face to face with Trance.
She gave him a look of utter disgust and snagged him by the wrist.
He barely had time to register the touch before she had drug him out of the medical bay and started shouting at him.
"What was that!? What do you think you're doing!?"
He flared out his wings and stepped away from her, hands held up defensively "What are you talking about?"
"You should be thanking him! Not making him feel terrible for saving you."
"He could have died doing it, it was foolish."
"Foolish to save your life?"
"In that way? Yes."
She clenched one hand and thrust the other into his face "You'd rather be dead?"
"If the only alternative is Veem doing something utterly idiotic then yes."
She paused and stepped back from him, tilting her head and giving him a long, long stare.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
She shook her head lightly "I don't understand. Are you or aren't you friends with him?"
"Not really," he glanced sideways at her "Why? Did he say we were?"
"Not outright, but he implied it multiple times, oh and he risked angonizing death for you."
Tovoth gave a small helpless shrug "So...?"
"You can't talk to your friend like that!"
"I already said he's not my friend."
"And you were lying about that."
"Are you accusing me of lying?"
"Are you deaf? Yes. I am. Now go lay back down you're about to collapse."
Tovoth realized he was clutching the wall for support "Fine."
She turned and stomped off, leaving him to drag himself back into the medical bay.
Veem lifted his head when the doors slid open, but the look in his eyes turned dull and Tovoth knew he wasn't who Veem had hoped to see.
And for some reason that bothered Tovoth.
He stopped midway across the room and turned back towards Veem. It was difficult for him to admit, especially to himself, but maybe Trance was right.
Hands shaking worse than before and his whole body wracking with aches, he started towards Veem and with a whimper of effort, pulled himself up on the medical bed directly next to Veem.
"Hey."
"What?" Veem didn't lift his head back up or turn to look at Tovoth. But Tovoth was, really as everything began to sink in, amazed that Veem was able to do any of that at all. He had to be in so much pain.
"I..."
Tovoth realized he was shaking again. Or had he ever stopped? What was he doing, his head was empty for once and he didn't even have words. Not even a lie.
That would be too easy, wouldn't it. Lie again, twist and manipulate, that was second nature and as Tovoth realized it he felt disgusted with himself.
"Am...."
Teeth, this was hard.
"Sorry."
It felt like yanking his core out with a pair of blunt pliers.
Veem slowly managed to turn over and stare at him "For what?"
"For shouting."
For lying to you, for hurting you, for not trusting you.
"It's alright."
No it's not, no it's not, no it's not.
Tovoth didn't want an 'alright', it wasn't alright, he wanted forgiveness. Because he did something wrong. He didn't want Veem to just accept that.
"Thank you," Tovoth didn't mean to say it so quietly, but Veem heard him nonetheless.
"For what?"
"Saving me," Tovoth's voice grew a bit louder "You didn't have to do that. Both times."
"You saved me too. You didn't have to do that either," Veem tried to prop himself up on one elbow, but just the strain of trying to rise was too much and he fell back.
"No, don't, don't hurt yourself," Tovoth said quickly, waving his hands, gesturing for Veem to lie still "Please?"
"Okay. You should probably lay down again, your hands are shaking."
They were. He couldn't stop them, no matter how hard he tried.
"I will," Tovoth hesitated. He felt like he should say something else, but he also felt hollow. Those few words couldn't be it. He couldn't fix everything with just those.
Maybe not, but he really didn't have anything else at the moment, as the pain slowly but surely began to become unbearable.
"Okay, I will, you...rest okay?"
"Okay."
Tovoth closed his eyes and slumped down onto the bed feeling cold.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

/ a space between
624 words
"Leaving soon?"
Kwet shivered at the sad flat sound of Serpens' voice.
"Yes," he replied softly, sitting down next to the young man "We will be soon. Is there anyone you want to say goodbye to?"
"I already have," Serpens said, casting a quick glance up at Kwet "Already said goodbye to everyone, already said thank you."
Kwet felt a pang as he realized he'd been excluded from those goodbyes.
Serpens shook his head, the ghost of a smile touching his face "Oh Kwet, you really don't have a clue sometimes, do you?"
All Kwet could do was give him a bemused stare.
Serpens stood, still shaking his head, still smiling, his green eyes shining with beads of tears "I don't either. I thought it'd be easier to talk if it was just us, but it's really not."
"I'm sor-"
"Please don't start apologizing, it'll only make us both feel worse."
Kwet paused and sighed, his wings sinking down.
He fiercely wished he could stay. But at the same time knew it was utterly impossible.
"Won't even be able to call," Serpens leaned against Kwet's knee.
"No. The energy barrier will disrupt any signals after it's repaired."
Kwet wished Serpens came with a set of instructions.
He wished everyone came with a set of instructions, or at the very least a warning sign.
Terrible at communicating
That would be both of theirs, painted across their foreheads.
"I'm going to miss you," Serpens said finally, his voice tight "I really am. More than all the others. I'll miss you."
"I'm going to miss you as well," Kwet had to resist the urge to start crying. Serpens would be fine. He'd be safe now. No one was trying to kill him any more. He'd be with his mother and he'd still have Lynx and Cassiopeia and Andromeda. And Kwet would still have Aveth.
But not each other.
Not each other, never again.
Kwet could hear as Serpens swallowed hard and looked away as he began to scrub at his eyes with the edge of his sleeve.
"Forever's a long time," Serpens whispered hoarsely. He looked like he wanted to add something, but didn't know what.
"It is," Kwet agreed quietly.
After that they just stayed and watched the shimmering, stuttering energy field, until Kwet's comm pinged.
"You have to go now."
Kwet nodded, standing up, his wings still limp against his back.
"Goodbye, Doctor."
Kwet went back down on one knee, bringing his face closer to Serpens. It took him several seconds to steady himself enough to answer.
"Good....goodbye Serpens."
His comm pinged again and he stood quickly, turning just a moment too soon to see the tear that slipped over the corner of Serpen's pale cheek.
---
On the Farriser there was near silence aside from the few quiet orders given out. It felt all so wrong. Six years ago they would've been cheering as the Farriser's long sail wings cut through the barrier and they would have been looking forwards, not back, as they broke from the planet's gravitational pull.
But six years ago was not today.
After everything was running smoothly and his help wasn't needed anymore, Kwet retreated to a rear facing viewport and watched as the glittering blue orb began to recede into the dark clutches of the infinite.
He felt a touch on his wing and looked up to find Aveth standing next to him. They shared a faint look before returning their attention to the viewport. Earth was gone already but they stood a few minutes longer, straining, imagining that they could still see a flash or a flicker, but finally they had to give up.
"Come on," Aveth said quietly "There's nothing left to see."