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 Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 8:08 pm
Backdated to April 2nd
"I think I'm actually sick of storms at this point." The drawl was made as Solaris leaned over the piece of a satellite she'd been working on, rubbing at her eyes briefly to try and ease some of the strain there. There was a dull ache at her temple, and that nearly ever-present sensation of being watched...
"The ones back home had me pretty done with them as it was, but now the ones here? And back home, actually, since they're everywhere..."
Her tone was sour, a huff of a temper bubbling along with her frustrations with just... everything at this point. They had progress. The Crystal Tower was pretty cool, and now they had the satellites to work on to form a shield for at least some of Earth, thanks to Surtur and Almadel.
She just was still feeling like she was about to drown. Too many questions. Too many concerns. Extremely few answers or assurances.
Groaning, she let her hand drop back to the table, looking to the man she'd reached out to on everything. Invited, really, to the picnic area in one of the parks--enough tables around to easily spread out some of the satellites they were working on, secluded enough she didn't feel bad talking about everything going on. She'd already mentioned to Alastor she'd met with some Negaverse agents.
And yes, one was one of the General Kings she'd seen up in that prison... but hey, she was fine..!
Ish.
"I used to love storms. Gliding out in them was amazing. Dangerous as hell, don't get me wrong, kinda shocked I didn't get myself killed doing all that... but now I really just want nice, calm weather for an extended period. Rain's fine. Rain's soothing. Just no more freaking storms."
Solaris sat on the bench of one of the tables with legs crisscrossed, all together feeling--and probably looking, to a degree--like a haphazard mess. She wasn't sleeping well. Her mind was a storm of its own because of everything with the serpent. How did they even get to it? Where were they supposed to try and imprison it?
Her mind wandered back to that prison she and the others had been pulled to, and she for the nth time wondered if she could get back there to keep investigating things if she got hit by lightning...
Beside her, a small orb of energy hovered, the wisp making one of its rarer appearances around other people. Usually it remained hidden, from what she could tell, but now... it seemed pretty chill with Alastor's presence, and only roamed over the parts of the satellites--if it was curious about them, or just offering light, or just doing random movements, she really wasn't sure, but she liked to believe it was one of the former two.
"...I keep feeling like we're missing something major, and that'll be what causes all of this to get ******** up somehow." The somber words finally passed her lips, and Solaris' shoulders dropped as she let herself be honest about her fears. "The spikes, the storms and how the thing can move, trying to energize the Crystal Tower, the shielding... I feel like something's going to break because we're missing info, and I don't know what to do about it at this point."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 2:43 pm
Alastor tilted his head just slightly but it wasn’t until he finished screwing in part of a panel that he actually glanced up. He saw the wisp first, and a bemused smile worked its way onto his face as the little light bobbed over their work. He watched it for a moment and it was nice to give his eyes a bit of a break. Though he didn't entirely understand what the little thing was, he was glad that Solaris had someone--something--else looking after her. Realta already had her hands full, and he'd been running around so much of late. He'd seen plenty of Solaris but she'd been getting into her fair share of trouble.
Interacting with the Negaverse was bad enough, but she was testing her luck with General Kings! Unbelievable!
It was a good time for a little break. He set the screwdriver down and leaned back in his seat, stretching out his legs and rolling his shoulders for a second before pausing to rub at his eyes.
He didn’t have the advanced technical prowess that Solaris or Sessrumnir did but he’d tinkered with enough things in the past that there were sections of this that were easy enough to put together. Others had done the hard parts and gotten the pieces made so he could put them together. He had the benefit of time; whereas some of the others he was working with still had to maintain the illusion of normalcy, he got to stay at home and work on these with Lucien. It was a good way to pass the day while he waited for Michael and the boys. This was a pleasant break from the norm; though he loved spending time with Lucien, a change of scenery did him wonders. He was starting to feel a bit cramped in the garage. Even now, he was thinking he might need a little break to run around and burn off some energy.
And a snack. It had been a while since he took a break, and it must have been the same for Solaris, too.
“I haven’t been a fan of storms for quite some time,” he laughed, comfortable resting against the back of the chair as he waited for his muscles to decompress just a bit. Despite how long he'd been in this chair, the thing that ached most was his chest ached, still sore from an old scar that always decided to act up in a storm. For the umpteenth time, he absentmindedly reached to massage it.
“I’m surprised it took you this long. They’re starting to drive me a little crazy. I’m looking forward to being done with all this trouble. After all you’ve been through, you don’t feel optimistic about fighting this thing?” he asked. He’d spent a great deal of time imagining what it might be like, poring over old myths and legends. He’d even spent time looking up snake and serpent and lizard and dinosaur biology here on Earth. He didn’t think that helped much but he’d been doing whatever research he could.
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 5:16 pm
Her gaze was soft as she watched him rub at his chest. She'd heard the story, of course, and got a bit of a personal kick out of the whole storm detector in place... considering his connection to a Jupiter Knight. But she hoped he was careful of how he told the tale to the kids...
Eh. He likely knew all that a lot better than her, anyway.
"And yet, you're married to one," came her required quip, resting her elbow on the table and plopping her chin into her palm to grin at him. She appreciated moments like this. Moments she could just... talk. No, she still didn't want to throw everything in her mind on Alastor, but... he said it was alright to reach out.
She could share some things without it burdening others... right? She didn't need to talk about how sometimes, the wild winds the storms brought would remind her of better times, of reckless abandon and a sensation of freedom when she'd take to those same winds to glide--be via a ship, a simple glider transport, or by her very wings. Least, until her mind reminded her that she couldn't do such things any more without risking her life, and how there were plenty of times she'd still considered taking that chance--
"Storms used to be fun. I'd like to get that positive association back at some point," she groaned, casting a glare up to the skies as if she could send the ill-will directly to the creature responsible for all of this. The very thing she was... actually afraid of.
Her gaze didn't drop back to Alastor, but remained up on the skies as she gave a heavy sigh. "I've killed people. I can still kill people if I need to. I haven't killed a world-ending serpent capable of ripping holes through space and creating horrible storms." The words felt heavy as lead on her tongue as she spoke them, and though she knew he would understand of all people... some distant, small part of her still felt sick for saying it. Some remnants, perhaps, of who she'd once been before the reality of the Guardian of Solaris shattered that young girl's view of the world. "If we're not strong enough to take this thing out... we don't have places or even the means to get the people of Earth off the planet. That terrifies me."
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2025 4:15 pm
“So don’t think like that,” Alastor said easily. “You’ll just wallow in despair if you think about all the things that might happen if things go wrong. This isn’t one of those things where you make a contingency plan. If we fail, then Earth is gone. So,” he shrugged. “Let’s not fail. Let’s not even consider it as an option.”
As far as he was concerned, it wasn’t one.
It wasn't hubris, it wasn’t arrogance–well, maybe a little–it was just practicality.
They had to be willing to do everything possible to succeed, or else everyone on Earth–sans what few small clusters they could save–would perish.
Irreparable damage would be done to the world.
If they failed, there was no coming back from it.
So failure wasn’t on the table.
She’d killed people. Could still kill people. Hadn’t killed a world-ending serpent. Yet.
“Don’t spend your energy on the worst case scenarios. I’ve spent a lot of time doing that in my life, and I’ve regretted ever wasting the time and effort. Spend that energy getting stronger. Doing research. Preparing in ways you can control. I think we’ll win. I’ve never been in a fight I lost, and I’ve got a pretty good streak. Why break it now? There’s so many of us–more than they would have had to combat it before. We may not have the tools they did, but I think we’ve got greater firepower. I think we’ll give it a good fight.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 12:25 pm
She couldn't stop herself from giving him a deadpan look. Just don't think about it like that, because ah yes, why hadn't she thought of that?
"No one wants to lose a life or death battle--typically," she amended with a faint grimace, immediately shoving away the memories that tried to loom in the back of her mind. "Contingency plans aren't a bad thing, whenever possible." And that was the crux of her concerns. What sort of contingency plans could they form? Her eyes fell back to the satellite she was working on. So small, for how important it was amidst the plans they were forging. Yet a part of a much grander number. Ideally.
She gave a heavy sigh, tipping her head back to roll it slightly and try to work kinks out of her neck. "You're right about our numbers, though. So you're probably right about the rest of it. There's no other option but success. Just that nagging voice back of my mind won't let go of but what if." She waved her hand absently towards her head, fingers wiggling vaguely, before shifting to motion to her project. "So I keep working on these things." It was something she knew she could do in the here and now, at least.
"How's your world doing?" A shift in conversation, sure, but one that came to her when she'd said contingency plans via a tangent bullet train of thoughts.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2025 4:55 pm
“Very well,” Alastor answered, not just with confidence but with certainty. “More alive every time I return to it. I almost thing it doesn’t even need me anymore,” he teased, but there was pride in his voice, and Alastor wouldn’t have abandoned his world for anything.
Even death probably couldn’t keep him from it.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye, quietly assessing.
The weight of an entire world was on their shoulders. Of course this was stressful.
A lot of people could die–or worse.
They might disappear entirely. Erased from existence. Gone in all forms, permanently.
That was a lot of pressure. A weaker soul might crumble under that reality. But then, that all but secured failure.
There was nothing to do but press on.
“Does thinking about ‘what if’ help you at all? Or does it just make you sick to your stomach?” he asked. His eyes were on her, not the project in front of him, but for this he only required muscle memory.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2025 5:46 pm
The positive answer drew a smile back to her face, at least, even if she gave a light snort of a laugh to the notion the world might not need him at some point. She couldn't see that being a thing. Not with how much he'd always put into helping his people, his world, others around him... and that wasn't even considering his family now. Nah, Devyn would be a necessary part of many lives, far as she was concerned.
Who else would she complain and whine to?
Or whose advice would she actually put weight in, if not his?
Few people met her standards for her to view them as fully reliable in a fight, people she wanted at her back in the worst of it. Devyn ranked highest among her little list. It wasn't something she viewed lightly.
And now, here they were, another battle incoming, and she did have Alastor to count on in it, along with those others on her list. That should be something to help improve her optimism on things, shouldn't it?
His question, though, made her face squish, lips pressing thin and twisting in a sour grimace. "....depends on the situation," she said softly after a few moments, her attention focused on the satellite and trying to squash down her memories and unwanted recollections. "If I feel I can accept the worst case scenario that I can think of, then... yes, it can. Even if that scenario means I've failed the main objective, the priority for me in that situation is at least preserved or protected if I can come up with the right plan." It felt almost clinical to talk about things like this, but she had to admit... it was helping. Examining her own thought processes, actually speaking them aloud to someone... she appreciated the ability to do so.
"But... if I can't accept the result of the worst case scenario, if my priority in the situation is destroyed or hurt or whatever, then... I dunno. Maybe? Sometimes it feels like it gives me a reason to keep pushing even harder, because I can't accept that outcome. But then others..." Her brows furrowed as she considered things. By her own admission, her logic should be following Alastor's, shouldn't it? She couldn't accept the destruction of Earth and all else that would follow, so she should be able to push herself more into ensuring that didn't happen, right?
"I guess I just haven't dealt with a situation on this magnitude, so the worst case is... well, worse than whatever ones I've dealt with before. Huh."
She blinked a few times, lifting her head to stare at him in bewilderment. "....I think this is the first time I've really had an existential crisis in... a long time. Because we don't know what could happen to starseeds if we fail in this, we don't know if there can be a... a next time..." Even voicing it made her throat tighten, but it confirmed her thought process. This was beyond anything she'd considered before, a level of importance and significance that was... Well. Probably beyond anything any of them had dealt with, right? Her wings flexed, feathers ruffling and puffing up at her back. "...I hate all of this. I'd probably be going up a wall if it wasn't for at least the satellites to work on at this point."
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2025 12:56 pm
Though there was little to be happy about, Alastor smiled all the same. His hands stayed busy, meticulously working on fine details like it was simple craftsmanship. All his years of fine detailing made this easy. He might not have understood it from the technical sense, but it didn’t feel so different from a detailed embroidery, or repairing a small automaton.
Maybe the somewhat familiar efforts required to handle such intricate workings were of comfort to him, or maybe he was just too hard to rile up.
“It’s okay to hate it. Just don’t let those emotions cloud your mind. Worrying too much can trap you in an echo chamber. Sometimes it’s hard to see what your options are if you’ve only been focusing on the worst case scenario. Not saying don’t have a backup plan,” or twenty, “but just don’t let it keep you up at night.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t overthink things–he did, often, he just had to figure out where to draw the line so he didn’t sink into all the negative possibilities.
This was the sort of catastrophe that sucked you in and swallowed you up.
“Just breathe through the worst of it. Remember that you’re better off functioning than burned out. There’s a lot that we don’t know–and a lot that we’ll never know.” His eyes lifted to find hers. “Because we’re going to win. So we’ll never find out what happens to those starseeds because we’ll never lose them.”
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