All right, Orcus thought as she looked up into the nighttime sky above. No more excuses. No more worrying. We’re going to do this. Without looking, she knew that Nimue was standing nearby, offering silent support. And maybe a little goading. But that was all right. After their conversation the other night, she was ready to accept the gentle needling that her cousin’s presence would provide. After all, it was a wonder what good natured spite could accomplish. As she watched the stars above, she wondered, briefly, where her homeworld was out there in the inky black.

“And you’re sure you don’t mind if I don’t come back right away?” she asked again, wanting to be certain that Nimue wasn’t just benign polite about the idea of being left to her own devices for a day or two. Not that Orcus was planning on staying for an extended amount of time, but it was best to cover all the bases. Which was why she’d allowed her cousin to load up a backpack for her.

“I’ll be fine” Nimue’s voice was affectionate. And highly exasperated. “You are wasting time. If you’re still worried, just stop thinking and do the thing. Rip the bandaid off instead of torturing yourself with what-ifs.”

“I really hate it when you’re right,” Orcus murmured, finally turning her eyes to her cousin and half-smiling. “But I’m honest enough to admit when you are. Fine. I’m going, I’m going. Just…”

Whatever thought she’d been ready to share never made it out of her mouth. For in her fidgeting and fretting, her thumb had slid over the surface of her phone and landed on the ‘Home’ icon. And as she’d been thinking about her homeworld in that instant, she was transported immediately between one breath and the next. And, as she found herself standing in a very alien spot, she blinked and sat down, okay, it was more like her legs gave up on carrying her weight. Looking all around, Orcus’ first impression was that her long dead planet was… not so dead as she’d expected. Granted, it wasn’t brimming with life, but the air smelled clean. Like moving water and growing green. And it was surprisingly humid feeling. Glancing at the ground beneath her, she saw a soft, almost springy moss-like substance. Picking gently at it, she thought that it felt studier than moss. And it didn’t cover everything, but seemed to grow in clumps here and there. Beginning to breathe very quickly, Orcus looked up and scanned the area around her. Rocky mounds similar to cairns formed a broken circle and here and there, she could see enormous trees that resembled willows. Provided willows had self-luminating leaves. But not all of the trees were alive. Some looked desiccated and like crumbling stone. Beyond those, she saw more mounds of dirt and broken rock and then a tiny, burbling creek that wound through it all.

For a moment, Orcus sat there numbly taking it all in. And then, unaccountably, she began to cry softly. Something within her chest had relaxed and a deeply held fear began to bleed away with every tear shed. A small, hopelessly logical part of her mind rather thought that this outburst was the result of having held far too much inside for too many years. She hadn’t cried when they’d rescued her cousin and Cosmos had come to save her through purification. Nor had she cried when she’d made her own perilous journey through Mirrorspace and met Cosmos again to ask for her own salvation. She hadn’t even sniffled once as her own Chaos had been burned away. But this stupid, stupid world with its little creek and luminescent trees and soft miss… That was what finally cracked her shell and made her cry?!? It was ridiculous! Beneath her! And yet, even with that tiny, too logical voice shrilling away in her mind, Orcus couldn’t stop the tears. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. Not when they’d been so long overdue in coming. Crying herself out, the senshi of drowning felt a final snap within as the last tear rolled off of her nose. She was snotty and dehydrated and her throat felt like she’d been gargling sandpaper. But she felt… lighter? As if the tears had been a burden that she hadn’t even known that she needed to shed.

The fabric of her sleeves was beyond damp at this point, having been used to try and stem the tide of tears. Well, she could go through the pack that Nimue had made for her. Closing her eyes and reaching for subspace, she was highly relieved to feel her fingers latch onto a strap. Pulling gently, the sack that had been put together for her popped out of its little sub-dimensional holding cell and landed on the ground beside her. Opening it and rifling through, she was happy enough to see bottled water and a little travel-sized package of kleenex. Doubtless Nimue had included that just out of habit. But Orcus was grateful to her foresight. Taking a handful of tissues, she dabbed at her face and sore, stinging eyes before taking up one bottle of water and draining it in a single swig.

Almost immediately feeling better, she stored her litter in an empty pocket of the sack and took a few moments to consider her options. She was here, her world wasn’t some horribly decaying ghost. Or, there were signs of ruin and death. Those odd piles of rock and the skeletonized trees, for instance. But it wasn’t some shambling horrorshow. Which meant… what? That either the rumors she’d heard over the years had been lies? Or was something else happening? Privately, she suspected the ‘something else’ option. The universe was turning out to be far more interesting and varied than she’d first been led to believe. It wouldn't surprise her in the least to learn that magical landscaping was a thing.

Now that she was calmer, she was able to look around and make mental notes. What a pity that neither she nor Nimue had thought to add a paper pad and pencil to the sack! She would have loved to make notes and sketches. But now that she was actively paying attention, she realized that the humidity she felt couldn’t possibly be coming from just this little stream. And she was the senshi of drowning. Her fuku had a definite Ophealiac theme going. And while she knew that a person could drown in only an inch or two of water, she knew how her magic worked. If past her had used that same magic to defend a whole planet, star, whatever, one teensy stream wasn’t going to cut it. There was more to this place than just the small area she’d chosen to have a breakdown in.

Which meant, she had some exploring to do.

Taking a deep breath, she noted a soft, sweetly spicy scent to the air. Then, she slowly got to her feet and turned in a careful circle before selecting a direction and walking determinedly.

Word Count = 1184