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The Fireflies (6) : In the warm summer nights, little glowing lights begin to bob and dart through the city. Fireflies are mating, so this isn't uncommon in itself; in the past few days you've probably seen hundreds of fireflies. What makes these lights so unique is that they seem to change color; you might see a blue one, a green one, a red one. They flicker randomly, and something just seems off with them. If you come into contact with one, you will find yourself with a strange electric jolt. They cannot be caught, and will flicker away if you pursue too aggressively. This isn't the first time they've appeared in Destiny City, but no one's been able to tell where they came from or where they're going. No matter how quickly you chase them, they always seem to disappear before you can find any answers.
It was pathetic how lost she still felt. Daesva let out a rough sigh, pushing her fingers through her bangs and tangling for a moment in the thick of her hair. At first, when she'd returned with the others from that strange intradimensional place, that new prison erected for the Calamitous Hollow, she'd felt a surge of… purpose. First time in a while.
An interest in creating satellites to keep an eye on the creature's prison, ensure they had very advance warnings of any degradation or disruptions in the efficiency of the spikes and the energy cycles that kept the creature in place. She'd started to look at what plans and models they did have, fiddled with some coding and condensing research from the various scans everyone had collected to build up a hypothetical baseline for the simulations to process. At least until she had prototypes she could test in harsher conditions….
For a while, Daesva was actually feeling good. She felt she had a course to stick to, a goal she could very much achieve and know it would help people.
So where did she falter? Where did she fail? Fall off?
Sitting at the garage she was using for her motorcycle project, the human guise kept her safe from any wandering eyes or passerbys. She took another swing of her large water bottle, taking in the sensation of icy liquid moving down her throat and into her stomach. Now and then, she wondered if she should finally try some of the human alcohol she always heard about--not that she really wanted to be blundering drunk like she'd seen plenty endure… but the notion of a substance removing the momentary focus and weight of her thoughts sounded… lovely.
Rolling her eyes at her own stupid thoughts, Daesva tipped her head back, turning her gaze up at one of the street lights along the road. Various insects bobbed and flittered about, moving in and away and back again to the light. The average moths, flies, and mosquito hawks picking up some prey of their own. Up above her head, she could hear the swift cutting membrane wings of bats, along with their sharp clicks of their echolocation. She'd put up a few bat houses in the back of the property, with the owner's permission. They had residents now, a small cluster, and the natural means to reduce the presence of mosquitos and other annoying, potentially hazardous, insects had delighted the owner.
Daesva just liked to watch them in their hunts and flights.
Insects that were… very new though, caught her attention rather swiftly. She was growing used to the typical nighttime collections, having spent far too long watching them and scanning them to confirm identification and their place in local ecosystems.
So to see fireflies? A sweet experience, but not completely unusual.
Ones that flashed red? Blue? Green? That was very unusual.
Flicking her gaze around her, she pulled up her arm with her 'watch' on it, easily activating the scanner on her Comtech to try to get some readings on them.
The lights flickered in and out, illuminating the street and grass along the side of the garage in a multitude of brightly colored pops. She'd need to show some of the others later. For now, she felt a peace recording them, even getting up at one point to move a bit closer where it was darker, and their lights were all the more brilliant.
Tiny stars that broke through the din and dim.
One landed on a small object that glimmered and reflected its light, drawing Daesva over to pick up a small star charm, red and dazzling, much to her amusement.
Stars that break the darkness…
She took in a deep breath, letting the cool summer air fill her lungs before she looked up to the sky. Somewhere beyond the atmosphere, the Calamitous Hollow sat, imprisoned. It… wouldn't be a bad thing, to add more of those tiny lights up in the sky. Tiny flickers of blue, green, red, yellow… any and every color, sending data back to their systems so they could help ensure the safety of this planet and others.
Daesva's face softened in a smile, a light snort coming from her.
Maybe she'd make the satellites look like fireflies.
