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 Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 5:24 pm
Kerberos did not have the mechanical skill necessary to build the satellites detailed in Almadel's plans, but that didn't mean he didn't want to help. And honestly, it had seemed almost obvious that scavenging their worlds was a good place to start, to look for materials that might be repurposed by the more technically-minded into something they could go forward with.
Conveniently, Murikabushi had a friend who was the inventing type, and another who was willing to go to his world with Kerberos and go hunting. He'd met Fang on Earth, but they were on Fang's world, now, poking through the ruins for anything that might be useful.
"I only sort of know what we're looking for," Kerberos admitted, "but you've helped Daedalus out some, yes? We're mostly searching for metal scraps and similar, things that can be hammered into the right shapes."
At least, he hoped there might be something to find.
"We can check my world once we finish here," he offered. "There are some ruins in the city that I think might have some old bits and bobs."
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 6:16 pm
Fang liked Kerberos. He felt like the universe itself had gifted him a miracle in the form of so many friends who treated him like a person instead of a marvel to gawk at and whisper about the "mentally ill" man in the shop or all the other things nasty people in the city said about him. He hadn't been sure about visiting his planet—to his knowledge, his people had lived relatively simply, or maybe it was just the villagers he'd known after Chaos had taken everything from him. He knew there had been things like video screens, but it was still all real buttons, nothing like the modern phones and tablets of Earth. More like the Star Trek stuff he'd seen bits and pieces of. Maybe it ran deep in the culture of Fang, and wasn't just a quirk of Fang's own self. It was hard to think about anything that came from before he'd been awoken by the Mauvian that had visited his planet shortly before everything went sideways. "Yes! Daedalus good," Fang said enthusiastically. "Fang help, he say, good job. Nice to be with..." He trailed off, realizing Kerberos might take the end of his sentence—"non humans"—as an offense, instead of just the happy observation Fang meant to be. He loved his human friends, but being comfortable with someone else who didn't look exactly like him, but was also clearly not from Earth, was just... special. "Uh, Fang not sure how much we find, though," he said, tactfully switching topics. "Fang people... Simple. Radios. Video screens like... like the big televisions from the short-long ago on Earth. Not many. Sometimes, whizzy toys? Spinny, noisy, uh, ro.. rotate-y things? Teeth wheels? Oh! Fang remember, very cool clocks. Like great father clocks on Earth. Better. Maybe we find clock teeth wheels!"
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 6:42 pm
Honestly, Kerberos found Fang's planet deeply relaxing. Perhaps it hadn't been before, and perhaps he was biased by how much he loved other worlds--but ultimately, this was a place where they were safe, or as safe as they possibly could be given the looming...everything.
The technology here was fascinating--if it was a story, he'd have called it retrofuturism, and it wasn't at all like what he'd interacted with on Kerberos. There, technology was so integrated into the natural environment as to be all but invisible; his people had clearly prioritized their flowing, floral, Art Nouveau aesthetic. Screens that tucked away when not in use, decorated displays built for plants to grow over them--it was all thoroughly different from anything here.
Fang's comment made Kerberos nod.
"Other Senshi like you, yeah? The ones form other worlds? That makes sense," he said. They all had a sort of shared experience, being out of time and out of place. Perhaps it made sense that they'd flock together.
"Honestly, yours might be better for it than mine," he said. "It seems like there's plenty of mechanical parts, here. Kerberan technology is all fancy and sleek, so I'm not sure what we'll even find in the way of scraps."
He paused, briefly.
"Do you mid if I start taking things apart to see what we can salvage? I'd bet gears--tooth wheels, like you said--will be useful, and any kind of like...thin pipes, or metal scraps." He smiled, wryly. "Not that I know anything; I'm no mechanic. I'm just here to look pretty and provide moral support."
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 7:30 pm
Fang blushed a little and nodded when Kerberos ended up finishing his sentence for him. At least his friend wasn't offended by the idea of it. He let the guilt go with his next breath, as if physically expelling it from his body with his exhalation. He was safe, had safe friends. Having so many people to turn to honestly still shocked him a little. "Fang people really like buttons," he said with a somewhat rueful smile. "Nobody want... too much. We talk with the screens, play games, watch plays, Fang think, but it... it all secondary, unless emergency happen. Most time, we outside. Never needed to do all Earth has. Uh..." He frowned a little, brow furrowing. "Take apart carefully?" he asked. "Maybe Fang should... take video. So, if we can... get stuff back, or... buy new gears, or... Fang can put back together?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:57 pm
Kerberos looked thoughtful, running a hand over the box in front of him. It made sense that Fang wasn't exactly excited about taking things apart here, and even considering the dire nature of the situation, Kerberos wanted to be respectful of this place. Of its people, long since lost.
"We can do that. Or we can look for things that are already broken, especially ones that would be difficult to fix. That way, we aren't destroying anything else."
His voice was gentle, thoughtful. "I don't want to hurt things, here. Our worlds are precious and special. I'm sorry, for getting ahead of myself."
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:25 pm
Fang nodded, relieved. "Thank you," he said quietly, unable to stop himself from stepping forward and giving Kerberos a swift, strong hug. "Fang sorry, for... senti... mental? Fang appreciate Kerberos very much." He smiled, turning to something that look irreparably broken, and began to carefully take it apart the rest of the way. He figured it was better to take in whole pieces, anyway.
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