Welcome to Gaia! ::

Encke was thrilled.

It was tempered by the reality of the situation; they had lost members of Order to forced corruption, what they had been promised had been either false or entirely backfired, and, if he thought about it -- what had all he had seen come at the price of? Archideus had been a dead fragment of a dead moon, and perhaps what had been done was necessary and vital even if it hadn't been the intended event around it, but --

He knew there was someone who would absolutely be interested in seeing.

Did Encke know if it meant anything for Velenia itself? He hoped that it did, sincerely; he wanted to see space teeming with life from every end of the infinite cosmos. But he also knew Caedus wanted to see every planet do well.

He wanted to see life.

Encke had given Caedus a bit of time to recover from what had happened before making any suggestions of traveling to space in case he was uncomfortable--even in its state, the loss of a starseed was traumatic enough on its own, let alone the betrayal--but the moment he thought that had been long enough, Encke hadn't hesitated.

"Caedus!" Encke was practically vibrating with his excitement. "I have to take you back to Encke's Comet. I--," he rubbed his neck, offering a sheepish smile as he attempted to calm himself, "there's been a lot of bad happening lately, but I think I have something good to help clear that up. You're interested, right?" A pause. "And you're able, right?"

Worry crossed Encke's face for a moment, but he did his best to not bring too much of a damper into what would hopefully be a good moment.

Encke didn't miss the way Caedus first moved to rub at his chest, and there was a moment where the sheepish smile turned into an expression of concern, his brows lifting as he thought to instead ask if he needed something different -- but relief overtook that when Caedus seemed happy enough for that happiness to show on his face.

That was enough.

"Good! I was hoping you'd be able to be, and that you'd be interested. I think you'll like it. Be excited." The enthusiasm seemed to be returning to Encke, encouraged by the fact that Caedus seemed excited about it. In one hand, he had his senshi phone. With the other, he reached out to Caedus. "We can go whenever you're ready, even now if that's the case -- I've got time."

Besides.

He was quite certain Caedus could use a bit of a mood booster.

Maybe what had happened hadn't been a total disaster.

Encke eagerly took Caedus' hand.

He hoped that was the only reason why Caedus' heart was pounding. These days, he'd have plenty of reasons for his heart to be pounding for other reasons, for reasons involving a certain betrayal and a certain attempt to walk off with his starseed. Best not to focus on that, though. They were focusing on the good. Encke was going to show Caedus that there was still good happening and that there was something positive to see in spite of everything that had occurred--

The grin he offered was as bright as always, and he chirped an, "Alright, going now!" so Caedus wouldn't be surprised when the press of a button whisked the two of them off into deep space.

Encke's Comet felt brighter than usual, or perhaps it was just Encke's resonance with it. It certainly didn't look brighter than usual, about to reach its furthest distance from the sun, the sky lit primarily by the stars above and the lightning that could be seen passing from building to building a short distance away. When they landed, Encke squeezed Caedus' hand reassuringly before letting go so he could stretch, take in a deep breath, and let out a relaxing sigh.

"I think, despite everything, something's gone right recently."

Encke looked around, spotting at a small distance away from them the garden he had spent years working on cultivating.

Perfect.

"Want to get a closer look at the gardens? Think something's got them pollinating."

... Encke could tell he was getting older. Was that an attempt at a dad joke?

Encke, who was generally rather touch-oriented, was perfectly content to keep holding onto Caedus' hand if that was what he preferred. "You're not gonna believe it, honestly," he was laughing, somehow, and it reminded him of the unbridled joy he felt when he realized his planet had more than a functional plant ecosystem.

He kept himself from yanking on Caedus, but it was definitely hard for him to hold back his excitement.

His steps might have been bouncy.

As they approached, if Caedus watched, he might notice something.

It was certainly something Encke noticed, and once they stopped in front of the garden, his eyes were tracking the small little creatures that zipped around the flowers, their backs glowing as much as the bulbous glowing plants that they took nectar from. They were like small fireflies, dotting the garden in the same way as the stars dotted the skies above them. His eyes darted to the nearby moths afterward, took in the few beetles he could pick out--

"See?" His laughter bubbled up again, as he turned toward Caedus and wiggled his free hand in something that could only be described as excitement. "There's life here. Beyond the plants.

"Not that the plants aren't delightful but--"

His homeworld was thriving.

When Caedus let go, Encke scanned the environment around him for something that he might be able to draw the attention of -- Oh! Encke held out his freed hand toward a moth, trying to keep himself still as it fluttered over. He smiled as the moth decided that Encke's hand was a good place to land, sitting on the edge of his pinky.

He bent down and held out that hand for Caedus if he wanted to take a closer look at the patterns on the little moth's wings.

"I," he laughed, quietly, "I'd like to think I did this, honestly, by all the years of work on this place, but I'm not sure I did. I just came back up here a few days after," he shook his head, deciding he didn't really need to be explicit about that. "And this place was suddenly alive in a way I've never seen before," a pause, before he added, sadly, "well, at least in this life."

As he looked at the little moth on his hand, he swore he could see a thousand more in his mind's eye.

"The only thing I can think of," he wasn't sure if Caedus would have remembered considering his state, but, "that wave of energy we saw on the ceiling of that room on the Moon? From Archideus? I felt something when it swept near Jupiter, which since Encke's in its aphelion right now, that'd be about where we are..."

Encke wondered if he should have mentioned his theory; he caught the way something in Caedus shifted after bringing up the events of that night even in the vaguest sense, and perhaps bringing up what had caused such pain and division and loss in his own life wasn't exactly the right move--

"I would, too." But Caedus said he would like to think something good came of that night, and perhaps seeing it might help. Encke would have liked to think that, too. He would have liked to think that in spite of it all, in spite of the losses, in spite of what had nearly happened to Caedus, that wave of energy at least brought something back that Encke had been trying to for years with the only fruit to show for it actual fruit. An accomplishment of its own, but not life, not this little moth on his hand that Caedus seemed fascinated by.

Not the little glowing firefly that buzzed by their heads, holding pollen.

"Thank you," he felt a little misty, and that was perhaps because he was. "This is more like the world I see in my mind's eye, you know? The one I've been working toward. The lightning in the sky, the stone paths, the flowing fountains, the unmistakable buzz of life."

His laugh was quiet, and only mournful in the loosest sense, "Feels like the only thing it's missing now is the people."

A few of the glowing beetles marched by near where they settled. His eyes caught something in one of the irrigation tracts, but his focus was on other things for the moment.

He carefully moved his hand holding the moth just a bit closer to Caedus. It fluttered toward him. "I thought that maybe you'd like to... see all this."

Do you think people could survive here?

It was a question he hadn't even considered when he had thought his planet had everything but the Enckeans left on it -- animals, plants, electricity, water, air to breathe, peace like the thriving society had in the memories he possessed...

Encke noticed when Caedus' gaze shifted toward him and he smiled and laughed and it felt good. Encke's excitement bordered on ecstasy as he released the moth to let it go fly and dance with its friends in the gardens.

"That is actually a really good question. Do you think this place could? Support people?" It was an unbelievably exciting concept, just like everything else, and Encke swore he might have started vibrating with the images. Wouldn't be the same, couldn't be the same as having living Enckeans on his world, but people possibly living here, full time, away from Earth, as a separate society-- The kind of thing that would allow him to follow through on his words to Caedus and Lyndin. The kind of thing that would give them a place to run to if the Negaverse's influence over the Earth became all-consuming...

And Caedus mentioned the concept of sleeping here without worry--

"Stars, I'm sorry, I'm getting sidetracked with the possibilities -- you're right. There's too many words for this. It's best to be seen, right? Like this? All around this?" He somehow couldn't stop grinning even though he felt like his face would hurt. "I know it's happening in at least one other world; I met up with a transcendent squire named Aokigahara a few days ago. He said he saw life like this, too, on his wonder."

It backed up that it wasn't just him and that it was something else like the comet, but Aokigahara was also transcendent. He'd need to talk to someone who wasn't...

"You know, Caedus, if you want -- I'm here often. You could come with me more often if you want a place where you can rest or sleep soundly. Or stay. There's plenty of space. This place is alive."

Encke was certainly capable of reading between the lines, that the might like, especially after the continued talking, was really like. He was right. Destiny City was nice. It was also busy. It was also a place where he probably couldn't fully relax. Encke hadn't seen any of the other Velencians since they had been taken away by Laurelite, but he also wasn't convinced that meant the group of them were suddenly gone.

Especially because he imagined they considered themselves as having unfinished business.

"Wouldn't mind at all," he confirmed, the smile on his face just a bit less on the side of ecstatic and more on the side of friendly affection. It was true; he wouldn't have offered if he wasn't willing. He'd just make sure to get a message sent out to Basiluzzo so he didn't get worried depending on how long it ended up being, though he did make clear whenever he was going to space with someone else-- "While you're fully resting, I can always work on some other things, too. Let you have a peaceful rest in a peaceful room, right?"

Or in the garden, if that was his preference, he supposed. Whichever one made Caedus feel the most at peace--

He probably hadn't gotten a proper rest in weeks.

"Oh, absolutely. Could talk about my world for hours if that's what you'd like." He grinned. "And I'm sure. I haven't been to Aokigahara the Wonder since he informed me there was life there, but I have been before. Lovely place. He said when he most recently went, he saw fireflies, butterflies, and beetles."

Encke paused, glancing back toward the garden.

"I suppose not all that dissimilar to this, biodiversity-wise--," his eyes caught the irrigation tracts once again, and he murmured, with quiet amusement, "is that an eel? But he said it was doing wonderfully. And like me, hadn't realized all this was possible. My sister's a senshi too, actually, I should ask her if she's noticed anything different."