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 Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 8:14 pm
In the time since purging the Chaos that had plagued his world, it had been Daedalus's pleasure to see it slowly come back to life. He visited it frequently, to tend to the small group of kosopods he'd deployed to consume some of the remaining pollution and to work on the long, slow task of burying the bodies left in the lake. Both were making progress; his world was becoming somewhere worth visiting again.
Maybe even more than it had been, once. Even if the eerie silence and lack of people made his chest hurt.
His friends should have been able to see this. Should have been able to see the end goal of all they'd worked for. Their world, healthy again.
But he was not here today to continue the burials or otherwise work on his world--no, today he was back in the city, in an old mechanic's workshop where he'd once spent plenty of time, with Almadel's blueprints and Fang to try and assemble parts for the shield satellites.
Outside, the Calamitous Hollow's eerie purple storms blanketed the sky. But indoors, even given the broken windows, they were relatively protected. And Fang might not have known much about mechanics, but he was an eager helper.
"Fang," Daedalus said, from his seat at a work table, "can you bring me a small wrench?" He gestured to the tool bench, a stack of drawers with clear fronts, each labelled (though he suspected Fang wouldn't be able to read Daedalan.) "The smallest one you can find, please."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 5:29 pm
Fang had been absolutely thrilled to be invited to Daedalus's planet. He loved visiting the homes of his fellow time-displaced aliens. Of everyone, really, but especially them. And he'd helped bring down the Chaos on Daedalus's planet! It was amazing to get to see how the world had slowly begun to heal. "Smallest," Fang confirmed, scurrying to the stack of drawers. He carefully opened a couple of them until he found the wrenches, and then wagged his tail in delight at how beautifully it was organized. Finding the smallest wrench was easy. Picking it up, he tried to stop wagging his tail so much when there was delicate work going on, but it barely even slowed. "Found it!" he announced as he approached, handing it over with a self-pleased smile. "Small enough?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 7:19 pm
Working with Fang was heartening. Two of them who had survived the centuries, if in very different ways, and were here, now, to protect one more world from a dangerous threat. The Calamitous Hollow wasn't necessarily Chaos per se, but it still threatened all of Earth, and whatever any of them could do would be, he hoped, something.
And Fang was so enthusiastic--it was always good to have an eager assistant.
"Yes, that's perfect, thank you," he said, taking the wrench and beginning the careful process of attaching the two parts before him. It was delicate work, but at least it was familiar. The assemblage of parts following a blueprint into something that would help protect Earth, even if only for a short time.
Any time at all was more precious than gold.
"How is your world? Any major damage from the storms?" He asked. "We've seen little here, but our old lightning rod infrastructure seems to be holding up quite well."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 8:08 pm
Fang carefully considered the question for a long moment before shrugging. "Not sure," he answered honestly. "Home always a little..." He stuck his hand out with a thumbs down and blew a short raspberry. "Compared to Earth. Not ever fancy. Then the... the... zom-bees. Much gone even before storms. If anything still stand, Fang not find yet. But Fang not go very far yet, either. Things that... still there before zommies, still there, far as Fang know." He watched Daedalus work curiously, hands unconsciously imitating the movements. Maybe he could learn to do things like this? He loved working with his hands, and his fine motor skills had vastly improved since he'd begun sewing his own plushies. It would be nice to have another skill.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 10:01 pm
Ah, yes. Daedalus supposed that Fang's relationship with his homeworld was likely...complicated. He wasn't like many of the rest of them, who had known their worlds in their prime.
"I suppose that as compared to a thriving world like Earth, your planet must feel lonely," and empty, and sad. Daedalus felt it every time he came back. But at the same time, every time he came, he found something new and alive. Some little reminder that his world was breathing again, recovering from what had been done to it.
"I'm glad no further damage has been done, though. Our worlds are fragile as it is." He sighed, setting the wrench down and stretching his fingers briefly. "Would you like to sit down and watch what I'm doing?" He gestured to another chair, not far from his worktable. "I shouldn't need any more tools for a little bit."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 10:11 pm
Fang nodded. Yes, it was lonely. It hadn't been, at first. He'd been terribly sad. He'd missed his mother. But he'd found a new family to take care of him in a relatively short time, and there had been that little village that helped, until they, too, fell prey to the Chaos infection that caused the dead to rise. He shivered and carefully put the memory away, not wanting to think about it. "Fang lonely long time," he said with a half-hearted shrug. "Fang remember... two holiday? Earth, so many. Fang not remember how money work, or... many other things. Life scary, long time. Fang do remember hunting with family. Family before death. Chrysocyon family after death. Remember... celebration. Family... cou...cousin? Cousin, adult, special hunt, special dance circle. Special feast! Good, fun! But... Fang not know enough... specifics? To do for himself. Or marrying, for him and Ilse. Uh! Not that Fang propose! Not yet. Too soon. Fang feel that way, though." He blushed a little and fisted his hands in his pants at the knee as he sat down in the chair Daedalus offered. "Sorry, for much talk. Want to watch, yes. Daedalus cool. Want to learn. If Fang not in way? Or ask too much?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 12:14 am
Daedalus nodded. It made sense--having to cobble together half a memory into an understanding of what his world had been like seemed like....a stressful situation, to say the least. If Fang preferred Earth to a homeland he had little memory of, Daedalus certainly couldn't blame him.
"I'm happy," he said, "for you and Ilse. She seems lovely. But you don't have to marry her the Fangan way, if you don't want to. There's the Earth way, of course." He paused, and looked thoughtful. "You could search for old records on your world, if you wanted to learn. The same way reborn Senshi do." Though it might be more frustrating, with no memories to guide him.
Briefly, his eyes drifted to one of the workshop's dirty, aged windows.
He doubted he would ever have time for someone else, so the fact that he did remember Daedalan weddings was probably irrelevant. He'd been lucky, once, but things weren't the same anymore.
He turned his focus back to Fang and smiled, shaking his head. "I wouldn't offer if I thought you'd be in the way, and it's never asking too much to want to learn. Come, look, see how these pieces fit together on the blueprint..." He pointed to it, then carefully replicated it with the pieces on the table.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 12:21 am
Fang smiled softly at that, for a moment. He loved Ilse. He liked that other people saw they were happy together. Maybe... an Earth wedding wouldn't be so bad. But he still felt guilt that he couldn't put his world back together the way it needed him to. He was a lousy senshi. But he took a deep breath and put those feelings away. He'd already talked too much; Daedalus didn't need for him to continue dumping his feelings. Fang wanted to learn.So he leaned in, tail wagging eagerly, and watched Daedalus put everything together.
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