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It was truly the "dog days of summer," as they called it. Sirius was going to be somewhere up in the sky that night, he was fairly sure--

Ignacio wasn't actually that bothered by the heat though, or at least, he wasn't anymore.

He had been bothered by it when he had layers of make up caked on his face. Ignacio scrunched his nose as he stepped outside, and then let out a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of the hot air against his skin. Compared to how he felt a half-hour ago, this was an improvement. A huge improvement.

After letting himself enjoy the feeling of air back on his skin and not on layers of foundation for a few moments, Ignacio plucked his phone out of his pocket, checking over his messages. First, he sent off something to Richard, letting him know he was out of work for the day, and also sending a small heart emoji. He then glanced over his other messages -- pinged off something to Safira, pinged off something to his agent -- oh, Sadie.

He grinned when saw the message. He knew that was a code word for space... Possibly. Either way, seeing Sadie again didn't seem like such a bad thing.




It was probably about a half-hour before Ignacio arrived to Sadie, waving eagerly when he saw her and darting over to her table. Figuring he was invited to it just fine, he pulled out a chair and sat down, making sure to avoid any feet that Sadie may have still had sticking out from under the table... "Hey, Sadie! How're you doing today?"

Sadie suddenly seemed a lot more alert when Ignacio sat down, and he couldn't help a bit of a snort. Fair. Space was probably more exciting than whatever she was up to, considering it seemed like she was putting a laptop away...

"I'm doing pretty well, I think," especially considering the events of the last few days, "despite the heat. Feel a bit better now that I got my costume make-up off." He patted at his cheeks, letting out a content sigh at the feeling of skin and not the feeling of five layers of unnecessary foundation. He caught that Sadie's eyes averted just slightly, and Ignacio's eyes followed hers to the waitress heading over. Oh, right, he should probably order some--

To-Go Food sounded just fine to him.

To the waitress, when she arrived, he offered a, "I'm just gonna grab some stuff from inside," and offered a held up pointer finger as a one-minute signal to Sadie before he went inside and grabbed himself some food. It was a few minutes before he came back, likely with more food than he actually needed. He had a few cookies, a danish or two, a couple sandwiches... Admittedly, he was pretty hungry, but if he planned on eating that all himself--

"Alright, got me something to munch." He lifted the rather full bag, before lowering it and asking, "So, mine or yours?"

... Sounded like he was asking her back to his house.

Easy enough way to throw off the suspicions of those around them, admittedly.

Perhaps it was for the best that the accidental double meaning might have drifted over her head, but her response still for the most part fit the cover. Perhaps her grandfather was taking up residence at her house?

... Grandfather, though, was an interesting comment. Ignacio knew the context she was truly referring to, knew that she was referring to the ancestor she referenced the last time they talked. He was her grandfather, though? Her actual grandfather? It was a surprisingly close relation to Ignacio, and he was curious, but perhaps he just called himself that -- or perhaps the last Pendour had been born recently like they were? Was that possible?

He supposed knights worked a bit differently than senshi--

"Yeah, sure!" Ignacio was always willing to go to his comet, honestly, and considering he could go just about every three days now, going to his comet was easy. He did not miss the days of a couple years ago where he could only go once every three weeks or so...

He followed after Sadie, letting himself shift from Ignacio Araya into Transcendent Eternal Sailor Encke. If it wasn't for the fact that Ignacio was an actor, Encke was pretty sure he was considerably more obvious in this form.

Casually, he offered his hand to Pendour, as he pulled out his phone. "You ready to go?"

If she confirmed she was, they would be off in a second, landing on the faraway surface of Encke's Comet. As Encke described previously, his comet was clearly fairly advanced -- lights streamed out of the tall, elegant, spired buildings, lightning flew through the air from spire to spire, the cracked paths were repaired and there was grass growing, some glowing bulbous plants lighting up the rocky ground, the sound of water flowing nearby from the fountain. He glanced up to the sky and couldn't help a grin.

"If you want a trip, look up."

Encke's Comet was moving fast enough that it was clear the stars were moving.

It wasn't how things were supposed to be, not really, at least not to those who had been anchored to Earth their whole lives. To Encke, after all this time, it felt as natural as breathing.

At first, the sky had messed with him, too. He told those that visited to watch out if they had vertigo, or to try and not get nauseous from looking up at the sky for too long, but he thought Pendour might be excited by it. Her wonder confirmed it, and Encke couldn't help the fact that his grin just wouldn't stop, wide, going from ear to ear.

He loved watching other people explore his comet. Maybe one day he could bring Ar--

"Yeah! The grass is mostly around the paths and little gathering areas, I've noticed." The further away from the main areas and the areas with obvious flowing water he got, the more he noticed that the ground was predominantly rocky. Most of the comet seemed to be pretty rocky, which made sense. It was a comet, after all. It wasn't like he was on an Earth-like planet somewhere out in space...

He gestured behind him, back up the other way on the path. If Pendour looked down that way, she might have seen an elegant marbled fountain in the distance. "The water you're hearing comes from the fountain. I think it flows from out of the ground somewhere.

"And please, don't worry about it!" With a laugh, Encke added, "I could honestly talk about my comet all day. There's a reason why I transcended, after all."

From what he had gathered and from what he had figured, it was mostly the time and care he had put into Encke's Comet that had turned him into the transcendent senshi he was today. As ridiculous as transcendence sounded, he was honestly fairly proud of it. It may have still been devoid of humanoid life, but it was so different than it had been when he first discovered it.

The idea of it staying near the water made sense, and it was another theory that he had. It being planted made sense, too, but those seeds had to have been dormant for such a long time--

He supposed they had been dormant for a long time either way, hadn't they?

"I think the water is flowing under the ground somewhere, maybe via something being powered by the electricity. Maybe I can follow the grass to figure out where it's coming from," murmured Encke, mostly to himself but also as a response to Pendour. A little louder, he added, mostly for clarification purposes, "The fountain reactivated after I turned the electricity on, so I suspect they're somehow related." His main theory was a melting of cometary ice somewhere underground, but it wasn't like Encke had any proof of that happening. Not yet, anyway. Maybe he needed to do some more digging. Hopefully not literally.

How much of this was there when he started?

Encke still remembered the first time he stepped on his comet, the shock and awe he felt. The feeling that this was home was innate, and he knew this was where his starseed resonated, where it originated, even. It looked a lot different the first time, though. The buildings were still there, but there were no lights streaming from them. The paths were significantly more of a mess. Some things had been covered with debris that had blown over the comet over time.

But he had been at this for a while.

"The grass and the glowing plants are definitely newer. So is the lighting. And the lightning," he added, glancing up at the lightning as it sparked from one building to another. "The buildings have been here the whole time, but I've definitely fixed up some things. Same thing with the paths really, especially the paths. It looked like this but with all signs of life and activity missing, maybe for a very long time."

He frowned a bit.

"But I'm not sure transcendence always comes from fixing your planet, necessarily. I think it's related though, especially in my case. And I think a close connection to your planet or wonder or whatever-it-is is a requirement for it, so fixing it can help that."

He hadn't met or heard of anyone transcendent like him who hadn't been connected to their homeworld in some way.

Encke nodded. "At least, I think it is." The timing of everything that had happened recently certainly matched up with the reactivation of the electricity on comet... He definitely wanted to keep looking into it. Keep seeing what the electricity had done. Keep seeing what it could do.

If he could get a better idea of what all the monitors were monitoring in the conduit's room, maybe he could dig even deeper. They had a lot of pictures, so he was fairly sure he could figure it out...

Pendour speaking again reminded him to pay attention, and Encke pulled himself out of a mental tangent before he lost himself to it. He grinned at the compliment to his comet as it was now, and couldn't help saying, "I love it too, as is, honestly." He took a moment to admire it, admire the lightning in the sky, the lights in the buildings, the nearby sound of the fountain... and breathe in the cometary air. It was a few moments before he continued with a, "But I'd love to make it the best it could possibly be."

He saw how this place was in the past in the memories he held.

Encke's ultimate goal was to bring Encke's Comet back to that state.

A favorite place on the comet? Encke pursed his lips. There were so many places he loved here. He loved the fountain. He loved the palatial building he once called his home. He loved just walking the paths and seeing the views and--

"Are you feeling more outdoors or indoors? And how far are you willing to walk?"

He'd leave it up to Pendour in this case.

Part of what had excited Encke so much about space in the first place was the aspect of discovery. A chance to see new places he couldn't even imagine. A place to find new things that he could not have even thought of. The chance to dig up old societies, learn new things about new peoples, see new landscapes and new technologies...

The idea that there was still more to discover on his comet, though he knew it had to be true, drew a grin from Encke that was from ear-to-ear.

"Oh, I hope so."

Encke's Comet wasn't anywhere near the size of Earth, but he was only one man, and it seemed his comet had something new to show him almost every time he arrived. He hoped that never ended.

Encke watched as she pondered over his offer, caught the way her eyes wandered back up to the sky. He thought for a moment, before his eyes went wider in an 'aha' moment, and he gestured for Pendour to follow him. "I've got an idea, actually, if you're willing to walk a bit.."

If she accepted, Encke took her down another path, leading away from some of the bigger buildings of the city. Eventually, the buildings grew smaller, less grand, but the architecture remained relatively similar, and there were still spires that reached up towards the sky. The path that Encke in particular took them down eventually faded from a more obviously concrete one to one that was made out of pushing aside rocks and flattening them over time, perhaps from continual treading. It also took them up a bit of a hill, taking them further up the comet, allowing them to see down towards the city.

Once he reached an area surrounded by smaller houses in a relative clearing, he sat himself down in a flattened patch.