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 Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 3:24 pm
Kerberos had promised Lyndin he'd take up one of his Vanguard, though he'd taken the chance to visit his own world and confirm that the storms were there before setting up to meet. This Commander Aliez wasn't, Kerberos was pretty sure, one of the Velencynas he'd met with before--but he was someone Lyndin trusted, and that was more than enough.
When he arrived at the meeting point, he greeted the Velencyan with a smile.
"Commander Aliez, I presume? I'm Kerberos. I look forward to seeing what we can find on my world." His urge was to extend his hand to shake, but that was more of an Earth thing, so he resisted. "Short version of the situation as I've obsserved is that the storms are definitely present, and the animals that have come back are mostly in hiding. I've found them sheltering in ruins and such, trying to avoid whatever's going on outside. Also, much of the native Kerberan flora is bioluminescent, and it all seems to be...brighter?"
Giving at least something of a summary sounded like the correct, professional thing to do, right?
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 6:49 pm
The Commodore said that Kerberos was trustworthy. That there had been life restored to Kerberos’ world after Archideus had exploded. Aliez couldn’t help but notice the way Lyndin sounded fond of that fact.
Or that he knew Aliez might enjoy visiting Kerberos because of how pretty it was.
He greeted the Senshi with a quiet nod, patiently and curiously listening to what he had to say about his world and the flora and fauna there.
The gesture to shake hands was not unknown, although it was still a little foreign to him. Still, he held his hand out in greeting, and then somewhat nervously adjusted the bracer he wore.
“Thank you for allowing me to see your world. The Commodore thinks highly of it. If I may, I would like to gather samples while we are there,” he said, hoping that wouldn’t be a problem.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 7:35 pm
Kerberos took the offered hand and shook, but he kept a gentle grip on it after, since they'd have to be touching anyway to teleport to his world together.
"Of course. Anything you need, or want, or think might tangentially be helpful." He trusted the Velencians--trusted that they wouldn't do unnecessary damage, especially not one who came with the personal recommendation of the Commodore himself.
Rather than linger overly long, he produced his phone and activated the app that would take them to planet Kerberos.
They arrived in the garden of the temple that served as hub and Senshi's residence; years ago, this was the same place Kerberos had taken Lyndin and Caedus, and later Lyndin alone.
The garden was more tamed, these days, and alight with glowing asphodel, which seemed, as Kerberos had reported, quite bright; they were not the only flowers, though. Others had grown up, ornamental flowers of a number of varieties, and there was even a large tree with soft pink blossoms that were faintly illuminated. The planet itself was dark, but the skies were still cast noticeably purple, and violet lightning lit between the clouds.
"Ordinarily, I'd warn you to watch your step," Kerberos said, "the little animals are friendly and will attempt to climb on you. But not so much a worry right now."
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 5:13 pm
It was even more beautiful than Aliez had anticipated. He drew in a breath of awe when he opened his eyes to look around. Everything seemed to glow. It was quite mesmerizing.
His ComTech seemed to be excited about it as well, because it seemed to whirl with readings he’d pre-set it to take.
“This is your world?” Aliez asked a bit breathlessly, unsure what he wanted to look at more -- the world around him, or the potentially very important readings of his ComTech.
“There’s so much energy here. Would it be okay to collect some of it?” he asked. “Have the storms caused any damage?”
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2025 12:10 am
Kerberos nodded. "It wasn't always like this--but the first time I visited, I saw this...vision. Of everything all aglow. And I realized that I needed to bring that back." He ran his fingers over the petals of a glowing asphodel blossom, a fond smile on his face.
Even with all the strangeness, and the looming crisis, Kerberos ever felt safe on his world.
"Go ahead," he said. "There's been some lightning strike damage, but nothing too extensive, which I think is mostly luck. Scorched roof tiles, things like that. I'm glad it hasn't started any serious fires."
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 9:36 am
The thought of the lightning starting fires was alarming, but Aliez quickly went to work collecting as much energy and data as his Source Stone and ComTech could.
“Velencya has artificial weather,” he shared, maybe unnecessarily. “We never have to worry about lightning or storms. At least not on our world itself. Out in space there are a number of threats, but we are always protected by our elders and council. And Commodore Lyndin, of course,” he added, deciding to ignore the way he could feel his cheeks flush.
Thankfully, the light around them seemed like it might be difficult to see the reaction.
“Caedus was on Earth for a short while before we arrived,” he said suddenly, because it wasn’t very often that he spoke with Senshi, or anyone outside the Vanguard. “Did you know him?”
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 1:21 pm
Honestly, Kerberos couldn't help but find Velencya fascinating. An entire artificial world was something out of science fiction, to him--far beyond the realm of possibility. But of course it existed, as did so many things he would have once thought impossible. More things in Heaven and Earth, for certain.
"Makes sense. Was it strange, to deal with weather when you came to Earth?" He asked, curiously. "I imagine there were a lot of things that were quite the adjustment." To say the absolute least.
The question about Caedus gave him pause, and he let his attention fully turn back to Aliez, distracted as he'd been by his own world.
"I didn't speak with him much, then," he admitted. "I...wasn't well. It wasn't long after I'd left the Negaverse." And to say he wasn't well then was the least of it. "But I had the chance to host him and Lyndin here, after you all arrived. He struck me as a good man."
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2025 5:41 pm
Aliez nodded. It was strange to deal with weather, even now. Rain was certainly something to get used to. Along with sunsets and wind and the heat and cold.
He frowned a little when Kerberos admitted to not having spoken much to Caedus. That was fine. Safer that way. He nodded, grateful that it seemed as though Kerberos had offered Caedus a little bit of kindness.
“Back when we first arrived… there weren’t many Senshi or Knights who wanted to help us. Was it because it wasn’t their world -- Earth -- being threatened?”
He couldn’t help but notice how Senshi and Knights and the Negaverse seemed to rally around the cause of protecting Earth. But when it came to Velencya? His heart hurt knowing that they turned their backs on them in their time of need. It still was their time of need, but things could have been different.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2025 1:03 am
Ahh, straight into the hard questions. Kerberos sighed, moving to sit down on one of the garden benches.
"Probably, yes," he said. "And people were skeptical. Mistrustful. Unfairly, I think." Others might disagree, now, if they still held a grudge over the betrayal that night on the hill. And Kerberos had his own opinions on the whole matter, but other people had lost family, friends, loved ones to the Negaverse thanks to the miasmic Chaos in the air that night. He'd come out relatively unscathed, and so had most of the people he cared for.
(He hadn't known Sheikh for long, but Jet's blade separating his head from his body still lurked in his nightmares.)
He'd given what he could, given his abundant energy. But talking about what a good boy he'd been elided the point, ultimately.
"I'm sorry, that we didn't turn up for you then. And I appreciate you turning up for us, now."
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