Raksha had spent the last few hours searching the city for Fulgurite- no such luck. It was a shame- she had wanted to take him up to space, the next time she could, but searching an entire city was… inefficient, at best, and worse so when any semi-powerful Chaos blip could be the person she was looking for.

Raksha had located a youma in her search, but it was easily disposed of- it seemed pretty weak, and she just picked up a nearby brick and hit the damn thing with it until it stopped being something that moved and started being dust. It was probably a risky way to fight, but… it was fine, and Raksha hadn't seen any better options anyway, aside from a discarded beer bottle, and that could have probably hurt her to use, if it shattered in the wrong way.

So, brick it was.

(Technically, Raksha still had the brick. She had stashed it in subspace with some small solar battery banks and snacks. Just in case she needed to break a window or something while she was on her planet.)

-------

It was nine pm, and the campus was mostly deserted, though not dark by any means, and the astronomy class- Raksha had checked the schedule, thank you, and asked a few people- was having an observation night, with all their telescopes out and on the roof, and it was almost over. Soon, the students and their professor would go inside, leaving the telescopes unattended, unwatched, secure in the knowledge that the telescopes were four stories up, on a rooftop that you couldn’t take the elevator directly to, that was behind multiple sets of locked doors- one at the stairwell, one to get into the dark room, and one to get onto the roof- and overhangs that prevented climbing straight up.

They were not, however, prepared for a Senshi who could jump three stories in the air and also teleport away with a telescope.

All Raksha had to do was get up there- which was a little bit of a problem- the science building was actually five stories high- taller than she could jump, and it wasn’t close enough to another building that she could jump up there and then use it as a platform to get up there. That did not, however, mean that she was out of options.

It was- kind of risky, in terms of being seen, but she had one option.

In front of the science building, there was a large sculpture- then, in reach of that by jumping, there was a ledge she could land on and jump up to the roof. The only problem was that as deserted as the campus was aside from the astronomy class, the building had a complete glass front. Anyone not in a classroom would be able to see her.

Raksha would just have to be fast, and avoid detection.

There was, at least, no security cameras pointed at the front of the glass- she had checked first, just to make sure. Still, it was best not to be seen- you never knew who was a depowered Negaverse agent who could track down everyone who knew of the now-missing telescope.

Quick and quiet- that was the name of the game. Well, that and theft.

Raksha waited- quietly, patiently, standing outside by a random tree, scanning the lobby and waiting until a large group of students- presumably, the astronomy students, because absolutely nobody else was here- filed out of the elevators and stairway and disappeared back into a classroom on the ground floor, and then she moved, running for the sculpture, and leaping atop it.

The second jump went- not as well, with it being three stories above- the absolute limit of Raksha’s jumping ability, and she couldn’t get a running start, and there was a heart-stopping moment where she only barely grabbed the ledge, slowly, painfully dragging herself atop it.

Falling from that height would be… well, she’d be fine, but it probably wouldn’t be terribly fun.

Keep moving. Quickly. You’ve wasted enough time.

With another bound, Raksha got herself onto the astronomy section of the roof, and took a small moment to congratulate herself on not ******** it up extremely. That was always a good thing not to do.

It was a relatively simple matter to locate the broken telescopes- they had, in fact, been carefully labeled, if by “carefully labeled” you meant slapped with a sticky note that said “Computer systems broken, for manual use only” and swipe the small box of spare lenses.

Now was the moment of truth- could she take a human-sized telescope to space?

Raksha was undoubtedly- kind of nervous. She had never tried to do anything like this before, and if it didn’t work, all of this would have been for nothing, and they might replace the telescopes before she had the chance to swipe a broken one.

Procrastinating a bit, Raksha pulled out her senshi phone and sent a quick text to Encke.

[Raksha -> Encke: hey the telescopes are out if you want to snipe them. theyre on the roof tho and i dont know when the professor is coming back so be fast]

No response, and there were no more excuses to wait.

Raksha hugged the telescope, closed her eyes, pressed the home button on her phone and hoped. And then she was falling, for the briefest moment.


Raksha opened her eyes, still hugging the telescope- in her little hideaway on the planet. (She had only been there once, but it already felt hers in a bone-deep, instinctual sort of way.) She had done it. She had stolen the telescope. It was hers now, imperfect as it was. (The computer features probably wouldn’t have been much help, anyway, given it was created for an entirely different sky.)

She was also completely ******** exhausted- Raksha hadn’t anticipated how much the simple act of teleporting a human-size telescope would wipe her. She didn’t regret it, but it was maybe a bad idea. She was infinitely grateful for the sleeping bag she had brought last time- exploring the domes would have to wait for morning.

No sleeping yet, though. She had to move the telescope and put the solar battery banks outside. The solar battery banks were easy- she just had to fight open the door and put them outside. Moving the telescope somewhere slightly more convenient, though, would be a chore. The thing was heavy Possible to move, but a ******** pain.

…Raksha would do the easy thing first. Especially because the banks were in her subspace. She didn’t even have to carry them.

She was shocked when the door opened effortlessly with only the slightest push from her- Raksha distinctly remembered wresting with the door for quite a while just to get it open. It should have been easier now that it had been done, but not this easy.

A small smile made itself a home on Raksha’s face- this must be an example of what she had been told about, with the planets repairing themselves, just a little bit. And convenient for her, and hopefully her exploration efforts- tomorrow.

Raksha stepped out the door, put the solar banks somewhere she hoped they’d get enough sun, and shut the door again. Hopefully, they’d be charged enough to keep her phone charged in the morning. If they didn’t- she’d just have to live with it.


...She could move the telescope later. She was way too tired at the moment, and it was a relatively simple effort to find her sleeping bag and wiggle into it, using the bag she brought last time for a pillow. (She should really bring a real pillow next time, something more comfortable. Maybe an air mattress. And a bicycle pump, to inflate it. If she was going to keep camping on her planet regularly, she could at least do it in some degree of comfort, and it felt… wrong, to sleep on the skeletons of half-decayed, dust-covered furniture in her little hideout.

Before she fell asleep, though… Raksha closed her eyes, and stared into nothing. She still had no idea if the planet was sentient, or could hear her, or if she kind of technically was the planet she was talking to. But it seemed polite, to pretend she wasn’t. Just in case.

“Hi again. It’s me. I’m here again, for another visit. Brought enough food for a couple days, lied to my mom I was on a camping trip. To heal trauma. Mindfulness thing. I’m not sure she bought it, but- she’s worried about me. I think she’d do anything to make sure I’m okay.” A yawn. “So- came to see you as soon as I could, okay?”

“I can’t promise I know what I’m doing, and I have no idea how to fix you. But I’ll keep coming back. As often as I can. That’s a promise.”

“...Goodnight. See you in the morning, and I’ll find out what you have to offer outside of this little-” Mausoleum “hideout. Do you know who built it? I’d like to find out, someday- it doesn’t have any clear path up to it. How’d they get up here? What were they like?”

The questions faded into silence, no answer given, no wisps of what were apparently memories and not hallucinations- just quiet, and Raksha allowed the claws of exhaustion to pull her down into the darkness.

All of this could wait for tomorrow.