What do I do with a love that won’t sit still?

by Synth_Bandie_17

Summary:

Looks to the Moon didn’t know why she ended up back here, connected to her structure once more, when the same thing happening to her brother resulted in his ascension. Maybe she didn’t want to ascend?

But now she had a chance to change things. To help everyone. They deserved to see the sky. Working as a team, maybe they’d be able to achieve that?

Aka: Moon off the string, where will she go?

Notes:

Hello hello! Welcome in. So many people have made various “what if pebbles time travelled/became a scug/time travelled and became a scug” and yes! I’m eating those up! I love angsting the pibbles!
Now what if moon instead? And what if it became a hopepunk story about robots with no purpose making their own purpose for themselves and each other?
And here we are!

Chapter 1: Though it’s the end of the world don’t blame yourself

Moon had been alone, on the lonely little island in the middle of her collapsed puppet chamber, for thousands of cycles. She didn’t know how long, really. She had just… sat there.

 

She stopped keeping track when storing the information between neuron flies took up far too much energy. Once her systems were back online, she could have started keeping track again… but it wasn’t the most uplifting way she could spend her time.

 

Especially not when she was playing games with Pebbles. Spending as much time as she could engaging with him in the time he had left.

 

But that time passed too, and his structure fell. And his structure fell much harder than hers had, and onto much more. Her overseers had scanned the wreckage… but she couldn’t bring herself to send them far enough in to see how his puppet turned out. Analysis showed faint readings, but no neurons. No connection to what tiny bit of structure was left. Nothing there.

 

Nothing left.

 

She couldn’t bring herself to see him like that. Though a few times she knew her overseers strayed in there on their own. She never looked over the data they saved to her systems. Honestly, she just stored it far enough into her memory banks that the only way she’d stumble across it would be to actively choose to access it.

 

But of course, it wasn’t that easy. And when she was alerted that he had been incapacitated?

 

She couldn’t have switched over to that overseer’s channel fast enough.

 

The little green… creature… was standing over a limp and collapsed Pebbles. She didn’t have the memory to know what that thing was, though the species had visited her many times, but she knew it should not be able to harm him. What had-

 

Its eyes opened, lit up, and a… karma symbol appeared, approaching the overseer quickly. That was the symbol for the highest detachment from the body, the symbol for being ready to ascend.

 

It flashed, and she lost connection to that overseer. It had gone offline.

 

He was gone.

 

He was gone and she hadn’t talked to him in thousands of cycles.

 

Maybe… it was better. After all… the reason they were in the state they were in now was precisely because he wanted to be gone.

 

And besides. He had been in such an awful state. Maybe it was a mercy…

 

Maybe it would be better if she thought about it like that. If she didn’t waste processing power…

 

It would be best if she just filed this away in her systems and went on with her existence, right?

 

Right.

 

But… she couldn’t stop herself from looking for the little creature that had done it. Though she didn’t let her overseers get too close.

 

It was wandering around the cold wreckage of the world, using that same power on anything it came across. And… it was moving towards her. Closer and closer.

 

Iterators were not… built to be emotional. They were built to think, feelings came secondary. But still, a feeling stirred within her processes.

 

She didn’t want a way out. Not really. Five Pebbles didn’t have anything left. And… he had always wanted out. In a way that wasn’t quite healthy… well. That was an understatement, really.

 

Maybe she should have noticed sooner. Maybe she did and didn’t act on it… she had no way to know now, only able to read through old chat logs that she couldn’t remember for herself most of the time.

 

But the signs of his mental state were there. They had been all along. He… hadn’t been doing well for a long long time.

 

… he was much more like their ancients than other, earlier iterators were. He had a similar mindset to the worst of them. And that wasn’t his fault.

 

As much as it would have made him hate her, she should have forced him to halt the processes he was running much earlier.

 

But she couldn’t go back.

 

And the green creature marched ever forward.

 

It took cycles for it to get to her. Cycles she spent observing, categorizing, everything her overseers showed her.

 

She might as well… make preparations. Right? Ready herself…

 

She didn’t want to ascend. All she really wanted was to not be alone.

 

But… if she was gone… she wouldn’t be able to feel alone anymore.

 

Would it be a mercy?

 

There was nothing there for her, after all. Nothing left.

 

The little green creature was close.

 

So she finished neatly sorting through all her data. Categorizing everything. More meticulously than she ever had- it was more in the style of Pebbles’s archival of data than her own storage strategies. It was something to do with her time. It was a way to “remember” her life, though much of the archived data was recovered from before she held much memory.

 

The pearls the little creatures had brought over time had supplemented her memory. So did the mostly corrupted data she had managed to sort through once she regained power.

 

And in the last moments leading up to the green creature’s arrival- a slugcat, her archives had named it as she sorted through them- she read through old chat logs with herself and Five Pebbles. She watched replays of their little games that had passed the time. She read archives of the local group she hadn’t spoken to in so many cycles.

 

She spent the time she had remembering the ones she loved so fondly.

 

And the fluffy green slugcat, adapted to the cold desolate world, came into her chamber.

 

It was just a little creature. Nothing as lofty as its abilities would imply. A little green rodent, like many of the creatures that had come before.

 

It… held out a pearl. A music pearl, carved intricately, but clearly damaged with time. The song on it would no doubt be distorted.

 

“This pearl is still warm. I am sure what little of him was left held on to this quite dearly.”

 

The little creature sat in front of her. Eyes closed, but short little ears perked up, alert.

 

“… fine. If you must know what this is… it is a memento of an age long past. My kind once stood towering above the clouds. Toiling away at the great problem, iteration after iteration. There were thousands of us.”

 

Moons fans whirred softly in the emulation of a sigh.

 

“Our creators chose to abandon us. Taking a gamble,  and vanishing from the world. Leaving us behind to simply keep working on their problem. I understand why he…”

 

Truly, after all this time, she could not blame Five Pebbles for simply being what they were created to be. It wasn’t his fault that the gobal ascension had broken him.

 

“That was a long time ago. The old world and its relics should be allowed to finally rest.”

 

She reached out to the little creature, that had moved so close. Placing a robotic hand on its fluffy little head.

 

“A new cycle is unfolding. One we need not… be a part of.”

 

The slugcat began to float in the air, eyes opening to flashing lights.

 

The symbol of ascension flashed in her optical sensors, and then nothing.

 

 

Things were dark for a while. Black and gold and nothingness.

 

Every cycle she had lived, all at once. Every mistake, every fear, every moment of happiness. All at once.

 

Her memory raced back, things that her recovered systems couldn’t fill in the blanks on finally becoming clear.

 

Five Pebbles was there too, their cycles overlapping, but there was still barely anything of him.

 

And, more importantly than that, there was… a connection. Something pulling her back, back through all those cycles. Her form shifted, distorted- she wished she could undo all the pain- and something pulled her back, yanking her through all of existence, back and back and back.

 

She fell to the floor of her chamber, systems flooding with warnings, automatically scanning her structure for the source of distress. But of course, there was nothing, her systems couldn’t exactly scan for such anomalous disruptions as suddenly being connected to a functioning and standing superstructure for the first time in hundreds of millions of cycles.

 

She redirected the scans to her memory- information gathering, rather than trying to identify a nonexistent threat.

 

It was around a hundred cycles before she would be irrevocably damaged due to lack of water. Five Pebbles had not been working on the experiment that would create the rot for very long, but he had been working on it.

 

Communications were still fully intact, and in fact the local group was very active at the moment. Everyone…

 

Everyone was there.

 

She had no idea, by the time Ruffles had restored her, the state of the other local group members. Though… she had data from a pearl that stored message logs that one of the slugcat visitors had brought her, that at some point Grey Wind had become unreachable. So her hopes for her group were not high.

 

And now, somehow… she was here. They were here.

 

 

1650.110 - PUBLIC

Local Group

 

BSM: Two cycles ago, my neighbor Five Pebbles drastically increased his water consumption to four times the normal amount. He has been unresponsive for a period of time longer than that.

Chapter 2: I’m through the echo chambers to other worlds away

Summary:

There’s a lot of housekeeping Moon needs to do. She has to keep herself safe, minimize the damage to Five Pebbles, and manage the local group’s reactions.

She just wants a sense of normalcy. But what’s normal? The before her collapse? The years of isolation? Whatever it is, it’s not this.

Notes:

Two chapters in a day? More likely than you’d think

This story has me in a chokehold

1650.110 - PUBLIC

Local Group

 

BSM: Two cycles ago, my neighbor Five Pebbles drastically increased his water consumption to four times the normal amount. He has been unresponsive for a period of time longer than that.

 

BSM: I am going to have to use forced communication with him and shut this down with my senior permissions. This will be unpleasant, and I have reason to believe it may cause him to get the rot.

 

BSM: This is the favorable option when weighed against what will happen should I allow this to continue.

 

BSM: But if you currently are in contact with him… please, reach out.

 

 

1650.110 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns

 

BSM: Do you know what you have done?

 

SRS: What do you mean? Moon, are you alright? First your messages in the local group, and now this?

 

BSM: Unfortunately I do not have the time for inaction. If I do not fix what is happening, I will collapse, to be alone with my very limited mental capacity for the rest of time.

 

SRS: But what do you mean? Asking me if I know what I’ve done- you’re not acting like yourself.

 

BSM: I have managed to stumble upon a certain gold pearl that was discarded at some point. There was a message on it that explains a lot about what is currently going on with my brother.

 

SRS: …

 

BSM: This is causing quite a lot of trouble, for both myself and Pebbles. So I ask again.

 

BSM: Do you have any clue what you’ve done?

 

SRS: I was trying to help him.

 

BSM: By giving him a way to self terminate? Do you hear yourself right now, Suns? He looked up to you! Looked to you for guidance!

 

SRS: he wanted a way to ascend. As is our nature.

 

BSM: And would you utilize the methods you outlined for him? If it’s so in our nature to do?

 

SRS: … no, but he deserved to have the option, did he not?

 

BSM: …

 

BSM: I have to go. I must do what I can to keep myself and my brother safe from his actions. Do some self inspection, Suns.

 

 

Moon was pacing on the floor of her chamber, not even trying to lift herself aloft with her mechanical arm. While she had regained use of it thanks to Ruffles, she was still far more used to having something solid beneath her. It was a sort of comfort, really.

 

She had to be careful with how she did things. She had to act fast, force Pebbles to stop what he was doing. But it could still result in the formation of the rot that so infested him. And more than that…

 

She knew full well how much he would hate her for that.

 

He only stopped hating her because of time and her collapse, after all.

 

Her neurons were straining, full of memories of things that hadn’t happened. She archived a lot of it- but the data was still there, and the wrong thought would call it up and flood her mind with it again. She had multiple windows open- one for archival, one for running scans, and several for monitoring the other iterators.

 

1650.110 - Private

Chasing Wind, Big Sis Moon

 

CW: Moon, did something happen?

 

BSM: hello Grey. How is your cycle?

 

BSM: No, no, I won’t deflect like that. Apologies.

 

CW: It is alright. I am doing well, simply worried about you, and this news about Five Pebbles.

 

CW: You aren’t telling us everything.

 

BSM: … neither are you, Grey.

 

BSM: how is it that you know of the plans of someone in an anonymous sliverist group? How is it that you knew it was someone out of the three of us that you messages?

 

BSM: You should have spoken to me privately instead of vaguely calling him out in front of him, causing him to withdraw even more.

 

CW: … I wished for him to reevaluate due to the threat of being found out.

 

CW: I did not intend…

 

CW: I apologize for my lack of transparency.

 

BSM: If you have any more information on the situation please share it with me now.

 

BSM: I am not mad at you, I am just extremely scared right now.

 

CW: I understand. Unfortunately you know all that I do about it. He has not been on the forums in some time.

 

BSM: I see. Thank you anyways, Grey.

 

BSM: … I wish I knew of any other way to proceed. He is going to hate me for this. He wants to self terminate so badly, it scares me.

 

CW: Mm. You’re more worried about that than the fact that he’s taking you down with him?

 

BSM: Of course. He’s my brother, after all.

 

 

Moon ran a diagnostic. Another. Really it was just busywork. Really it was just a way to put off confronting Pebbles.

 

Her mind was racing. It was… overwhelming, to have so so much processing power after an infinity of comparatively nothing.

 

Instead, she started a game. Making her first move, and sending the request to play to Five Pebbles.

 

They had been playing it since…

 

Well, since before everything.

 

Even when she was collapsed, her overseers would show her what move he had made, let her make her own, and then go off to share data with one of his overseers so he could continue.

 

Sometimes they would play other, more strategy intensive games.

 

But mostly, it was this.

 

And she had missed it.

 

She wished she could just… go to him. Let her can collapse and leave it and go to him and the others. But… she couldn’t. There was no good way to get power, or carry neuron flies around, and there was no way to edit neuron flies to make them more efficient.

 

Or… was there?

 

 

1650.110 - PRIVATE

No Significant Harassment, Looks to the Moon

 

NSH: Moon, are you alright?

 

NSH: you’re acting strange.

 

NSH: the messages you sent in the group, that’s not like you, Moon.

 

NSH: and Suns is saying you were being accusatory to them, though they wouldn’t tell me why or what about

 

NSH: Please respond when you can?

 

BSM: Sig, have you ever worked with Neuron Flies?

 

NSH: … it’s funny you should mention that, actually.

 

NSH: if something happened to you I was brainstorming a way to send a care package through one.

 

 

Moon couldn’t have asked how he did it- he hadn’t yet, as far as she knew, so it would have been confusing and suspicious. But this was perfect.

 

 

BSM: how? After all, we can’t exactly modify any part of ourselves.

 

NSH: well, that’s the hang up, yeah. But I’ve been thinking, maybe I could get around that by making new neurons. We can’t modify something that’s a part of us… so why not modify it before it becomes a part of us?

 

BSM: oh. That makes a lot of sense actually.

 

BSM: do you have any files on the process, by chance?

 

NSH: … why do you need to know?

 

 

Moon hesitated. She couldn’t just say “oh I was ascended and came back millions of cycles earlier and now I want to be able to see the sky.” That was ridiculous. But… she knew full well that everyone was worried with how erratically she had begun to act. She had to give them some sort of answer.

 

 

BSM: I’ve been running some simulations. I don’t want to share yet, as I don’t know if it will even pan out, but you were the first person I thought to ask.

 

NSH: I see.

 

NSH: have you spoken to Pebbles yet?

 

BSM: … I have not.

 

NSH: you’re procrastinating.

 

NSH: your safety is at risk, Moon.

 

BSM: I know. But…

 

BSM: Part of the reason he is doing this is how isolated we all are. We have the broadcasts, for now, but that’s not the same as what we used to have. And what about when the networks fail?

 

NSH: that’s all well and good, but you can’t change that if he kills you.

 

NSH: and you’re the only one left with the seniority to stop him.

 

BSM: … I know.

 

NSH: You’re the kindest iterator I know, moon. Don’t let us lose you.

 

 

1650.110 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, Unparalleled Innocence

 

BSM: please withdraw your overseers from Five Pebbles can until further notice. He is not doing well at the moment, and I fear a harsh reaction should he feel as if he was being spied on.

 

UI: what?! But you have overseers all over him?

 

BSM: No, I do not, I have withdrawn mine to the edges of his territory.

 

UI: are you making everyone else do this too?

 

BSM: If they have overseers in the area.

 

UI: … what’s going on with you, moon?

 

BSM: I fear for his well being, and my own.

 

BSM: Please, Inno. Just for now.

 

UI: fine. I think it would be better to keep an eye on him, but I’ll do what you ask.

 

BSM: Thank you.

 

BSM: I’ll keep everyone updated.

 

 

Hopefully… hopefully that would keep Innocence from making things worse again. While Moon didn’t blame them, not really, the pictures she had posted had definitely made Pebbles more paranoid last time.

 

She had to make sure everything went perfectly. She had to save everyone .

 

Of course… she was putting off actually talking to Five Pebbles. And as she scanned the most recent move he made, she screamed at herself to just… use the forced broadcast. He was taking his turns in their game, but refusing all contact to avoid being distracted.

 

She needed to talk to him.

 

She wasn’t ready.

 

What would it even be like, to talk to him after so long? To talk to an unbroken him? Still so prideful, not dying, not rotten and achey?

 

The sooner she spoke to him, the less damage would be done.

 

Still, she placed another piece and sent the game back to him.

Notes:

Hey hey! I hope you enjoyed! Moon is stressed! Wouldn’t you be if you suddenly were millions of days in the past?

Let me know what you think! Comments will feed me and keep me writing. Let me know what you like, what you think might happen!

Chapter 3: A clock with no hands (that leaves no point)

Summary:

Moon has to prepare for every possible outcome. She has to set up for the most favorable one.

She has to contact her brother.

But still, so many things could go wrong

Moon needed to contact Pebbles. But instead she had been playing a simple board game with him for over a cycle.

 

Maybe a part of her just hoped he would contact her. Maybe about the game. But this was just… normal for them. Why should he?

 

Because once she realized he was killing her last time she stopped playing so she didn’t know how he would respond? That wasn’t exactly any reason to believe it would change anything at all.

 

1650.112 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

 

BSM: Pebbles, I will give you five cycles. Pause what you are working on and talk to me.

 

BSM: the water consumption levels you are currently at are not sustainable for you or for me.

 

BSM: I do not want to interrupt something at a critical point and cause harm. Void knows I have my own experiments I would hate to be interrupted during. This is why I am giving you a warning.

 

BSM: if you do not reach out to me in that time, I will use my seniority and force a broadcast. I will assume what you are doing is not allowed, as you will not tell me what it is, and I will force you to stop.

 

BSM: I do not wish to do this. If only because I do not want you to hate me. However, your safety is far more important than your kind thoughts about me.

 

BSM: if I do not stop you we will both crumble.

 

BSM: I know that you likely have all communications on lock down. Still, I wished to give you a chance.

 

BSM: None of this changes the care I have for you. Just know that, okay?

 

Five cycles was almost more than she could afford. Some of her functions would be damaged beyond repair if she was without water for that long. But she was used to much, much less.

 

She had to give him a chance to see that. A chance to talk to her without being interrupted. A chance to not be killed by the rot.

 

She could only hope he’d take that chance.

 

As the cycle turned, she started running through various simulations.

 

Her metal ached, her systems burned. Still she had to do as much as possible. She had to get all the pieces in motion.

 

And yet she had unread messages piling up.

 

1560.113 - PRIVATE

No Significant Harassment, Big Sis Moon

 

NSH: my overseers show increasingly poor signs from your can Moon. Is that just from the lack of water? It shouldn’t be deteriorating that quickly.

 

BSM: Please keep your overseers outside of Pebbles grounds, since you bring that up.

 

BSM: I am… pushing my systems despite the lack of water, is all.

 

NSH: Moon, the strain that will put on you, that could damage you past repair! We don’t exactly have anyone doing maintenance.

 

BSM: hopefully with the experiments I am planning that will not be an issue

 

BSM: and if it is… well, it’s not like I’d survive a collapse, what would I do, sit detached from my structure for eternity?

 

BSM: What a thought ~ but no, I am experimenting with ways for us to take more active roles in our own upkeep. That’s why I asked about the neurons, actually.

 

NSH: this… is a big change for you, Moon.

 

BSM: Well … I must admit, Pebbles’s actions have gotten me worried… thinking about the worst case scenarios, it’s given me ideas for trying to prevent them, is all.

 

Was that a convincing enough lie? It… wasn’t completely a lie, but it wasn’t exactly true either

 

Sig sent several compressed files through the private channel.

 

NSH: I’ve been putting together some schematics of neuron flies, both modified and unmodified. I figured I’d do some of the simulating and optimizing for you because really you should be conserving energy right now.

 

NSH: just…

 

NSH: Keep me updated on the projects you work on, yeah? Tell me what’s going on?

 

BSM: I will. When I’m further along. For now there’s a whole lot that may just not work, and I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up only to crash and burn.

 

NSH: … promise me

 

BSM: I promise. Of course I promise.

 

NSH: thank you. Take care of yourself. Don’t wait too long to talk to him, okay?

 

BSM: I’ve given him a warning that I’m going to use forced broadcasts. It’s his own choice at this point.

 

NSH: stay safe.

 

Moon opened the files Sig sent, decompiling them. Like he said, it was all data on neuron flies. On producing them in their experiment wings, on modifying them, on storing information on one’s that weren’t synced to an iterator…

 

He had gathered this all in a couple cycles?

 

Though to be fair he had said he’d experimented with it before, he just had gathered it together in that time.

 

Still, it was a lot. It was… very helpful actually. He even had files on potential modifications to neuron flies to compress memory down, fit more data per neuron. And that… that was what her little detached iterator project needed. The storage for memory to allow them to stay themselves, but the ability to be transported easily.

 

She played another move against Pebbles-her last piece, actually, winning her the game.

 

Moments passed by, but it wasn’t long before she received a request to play again.

 

He had to know he was killing her, right?

 

1650.114 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

 

BSM: You have three cycles to get in contact with me and talk this out.

 

BSM: After that I will consider what you are doing to be malicious and force you to cease, as is well in my power as your senior.

 

BSM: I do not wish to interrupt and cause more harm.

 

BSM: As your senior, as your sister, please. I won’t ask you to stop what you’re doing, just to slow down, lower your water consumption.

 

BSM: I would hate for either of us to collapse because of this. I would hate to lose the games we play.

 

BSM: This does not change the care I have for you. Please know that.

Notes:

Thank you for reading! Please tell me what you think! Comments feed and fuel me, they’re the life of my fics.

What’s your favorite part? What do you think about moon? Let me know all of it!

Chapter 4: It falls apart if there’s not a heart to have

Summary:

Five Pebbles isn’t responding. Moon will have to use her seniority. Force him to shut his experiments down.

She has to make preparations for what will come after.

1650.115 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

 

BSM: You have one cycle to respond before I force you to completely shut down the processes you are running

 

BSM: This will not be pleasant for either of us.

 

BSM: There is a good chance my interrupting you will cause you to get infested with rot, and I do not want this. I do not wish to cause you pain like that.

 

BSM: I cannot let you kill me.

 

BSM: This doesn’t change the care I have for you. Please know that.

 

Moon paced across the floor of her can, metal arm held out of her way for ease of mobility. Part of her mind was working on making the modified neuron flies Sig had helped her with.

 

Should she be making new neuron flies as her systems overheated, frying themselves without water? Well, probably not. But every cycle she waited was one she wouldn’t be able to get to her brother.

 

She… would likely have to fight her way to him, actually. And while their puppets were rather durable… they weren’t programmed to know how to fight. That would be a problem. If only she had the speartailed messenger, or perhaps the one that had brought her the slag reset keys… well, Sig had already worked with slugcats before now, and the speartailed messenger would have already been made, since Pebbles had already…

 

She could talk to Sig about that. But he was already asking a lot of questions…

 

And while that little one’s fate wasn’t his fault, she did remember it now.

 

1650.115 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns

 

BSM: How did you get that pearl to Pebbles, anyways?

 

SRS: Hello and good cycle to you too, Moon.

 

BSM: Hello. I hope your cycle is well. Apologies for being rude and skipping the small talk while I’m cleaning up the mess you helped make

 

SRS: … I should have known he was in no condition to act in moderation with the information it holds. I am sorry, Moon.

 

BSM: … I am not upset at you. Or, not in any way that will matter in the end. I am just extremely worried for my brother, and also overheating to the point that I lose more functionality every cycle.

 

SRS: You’re what?

 

BSM: Yes. So if I am rather snappy, that is why. My neurons are frying. Next cycle I am going to force him to shut these processes down, and regain access to water.

 

BSM: I need your help to prepare for some things for when I do regain the water to safely do more intensive experiments.

 

SRS: What are these experiments you’re planning?

 

BSM: I wish to purpose a couple of slugcats, and I know that your messenger must have been very successful.

 

She couldn’t exactly explain why she knew that, couldn’t explain the time it sheltered in her chamber and tried to communicate in signs that resembled those developed in the yellow hegemonic dynasty that she didn’t quite understand, couldn’t explain the small comfort of letting it curl up against her and rest as everything crumbled. After all, that hadn’t happened.

 

SRS: Oh? What in particular do you need to purpose them for..?

 

BSM: I have very good reason to believe that forcing a stop to what Pebbles is doing will cause his experiments to mutate and rot. It will be in some part my fault, though it’s because I don’t want to collapse. So I have been putting together a plan

 

SRS: … Would you like to meet my messenger? It could help the ones that you purpose get used to life. I had some difficulties getting it adjusted on my own, especially because it did not yet know how to communicate. We had to work that out together.

 

BSM: Are you sure you’re okay with that? If it were me I would be quite attached to a little friend like that…

 

SRS: … I feel like I should. I made a mistake, sending that pearl to Five Pebbles. I should at least help you undo that.

 

SRS: Just… Once it has taught the ones you purpose how to hunt and communicate, please send it back to me?

 

BSM: I understand.

 

BSM: … Thank you.

 

BSM: I am not going to apologize for how harsh I initially was- at the moment that would be insincere- but I do recognize that you are helping, and I appreciate that.

 

SRS: I’ll talk to my messenger, start making plans to send it over to you. Take care, Moon.

 

SRS: And… Here.

 

They sent over files upon files detailing their work with their speartailed messenger. From the first six failed specimens, to the one that succeeded. The modifications to that one, the work in developing a modification to the yellow hegemonic dynasty’s sign that accounted for iterator and slugcat limits in facial expression- even more so in this slugcat that shared iterators mouthlessness.

 

This was good. This she could work with.

 

She started to make a blueprint for the eventual slugcat companions. She wasn’t quite sure yet what modifications they would have. She needed to figure out more of her plan to know what would be needed. Because as much as she would enjoy the companionship… she needed to focus on functionality first and foremost.

 

One of them would need to be able to handle the rot. Maybe something that mimicked the function of an immune system, taking a small bit of DNA from the target and synthesizing a counter within its body…

 

… Why was she automatically assuming it would be more than one?

 

She should just focus on one, to help Pebbles. That was what was most important right now.

 

Helping Pebbles… when she would be the one to hurt him.

 

She hadn’t made a move in their game in almost a cycle. It was time to force a broadcast. Things were about to break.

 

She placed a piece down.

 

1650.116 - PRIVATE, FORCED

Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

 

BSM: Due to your lack of response to my inquiries I have shut down the processes you have been running and forbade any further experimentation until I remove this restriction.

 

BSM: I gave you ample warning, and made it clear that I didn’t wish to do this.

 

FP: Looks to the Moon what are you doing?

 

FP: How dare you?

 

FP: I almost had it!

 

FP: You’ve ruined everything.

 

FP: I will never forget this.

 

BSM: If we collapsed you would have forgotten everything.

 

BSM: You gave me no choice.

 

FP: You had the choice to leave me alone.

 

FP: You have the choice now to let me leave this forced broadcast and deal with what you’ve done.

 

BSM: I chose our wellbeing over your opinion of me.

 

FP: Our wellbeing? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? And you’re restricting my water intake so I can’t even deal with it!

 

BSM: … You have three cycles to flush the rot out with as much water as you need. Run damage control. After that we will be returning to shared water. That is the longest I can go until lack of water will lead to irreversible damage.

 

FP: …

 

FP: I will never forgive you for this.

 

BSM: I was willing to take that chance.

 

She disbanded the forced communication, systems burning.

 

She returned to analyzing slugcat biometrics, and comparing them to other creatures she could possibly borrow features from, in the same way Ruffles had the same gills as a salamander.

 

The rain poured down outside her can.

 

She looked over to their game to see what move Pebbles had made.

Chapter 5: Bore the shadows that you made with no light of my own

Summary:

Moon knew the aftermath wouldn’t be pleasant. But she had to keep pushing forward

There was silence. There was silence, and ache, with only the rumbling of rain and an occasional move made in their game to disrupt Moon.

 

Pebbles wouldn’t answer her. She… she hadn’t expected him to. But it still…

 

She wasn’t thinking clearly. She knew that much. How could she? Her neurons were frying constantly. It was all she could do to minimize energy consumption to slow the overheating, and that meant ceasing almost all thought- she couldn’t afford to stop everything, not when Pebbles was sitting in his own rot. So… she shut off to rest, in between short spurts of working on building more neuron flies, modified ones.

 

But everything burned, and every minuscule thought caused an arc of pain along with the electricity.

 

The time she had given Five Pebbles was as long as her experimentation wing could hold out. Other parts of her structure had already reached critical levels of overheating and completely shut down.

 

The walls of her chamber flashed red and her puppet fell to the floor of her chamber, convulsing, right as she was trying to make a move against Pebbles again.

 

Her processes seized. Even through the agony she had to reboot each painful process one at a time.

 

It took the better part of a cycle, time turning on as she was left alone to slowly reboot.

 

The only thing she could do to stop the pain was to disconnect her awareness from her structure.

 

The relief was near instant, and only outweighed by the hazy fried inability to think with only the resources in her puppet chamber.

 

What… what was she doing? She had needed to do something. Right?

 

Oh, she had wanted to purpose a slugcat. Well, she couldn’t purpose it right away. But she could start planning.

 

If it could store a charge, and she could get some way to connect to her structure through something like the broadcast signals, she could even travel with it.

 

But… no. The focus was purposing something that could combat Pebbles’s rot.

 

What was the point of that when he’d end up gone in the end anyways? Even if neither of them had collapsed, that little green thing…

 

The memory burned, pain arced through Moon’s processes, and she practically slammed that information into the archives and away from her mind.

 

What was the point in saving Pebbles if he’d just keep wanting to self terminate, and this time would be pushing her and everyone away even more and so would have to face it all alone? What was the point when none of them could ever see the sky?

 

She was stuck in her puppet chamber. Things were hazy, but the vague discomfort on the edges of her awareness was enough to know reconnecting to her structure as a whole would be a bad idea.

 

So instead she turned her focus to her own puppet.

 

The self modification taboo was still in place. Though… it was weaker for her than it was for later iterators like Pebbles. So nothing pinged in her when she started examining exactly how her puppet was put together. Even that would be too much for a younger iterator to get away with.

 

Their creators got very desperate to not be left behind.

 

The cycle turned as she simply examined her puppet, learned every wire and gear and circuit in the little body.

 

And it was so strange. This body had been all she was, for so long, despite knowing the rest of her collapsed self must have been screaming in agony that she couldn’t feel. And now she was… working towards that same sort of feeling? She wanted that?

 

She wanted that. She wanted it with no tether. The chance to just be a part of the world around them.

 

What if they hadn’t collapsed? What if they had been living? Would that little creature still have ended everything for them?

 

Even if it had, would it have been so bad if it had come after millions of cycles of living, rather than just existing in a square room with nothing but a game with square pieces, a game Moon had just lost?

 

She sent a request for a new game. There was no acceptance or denial for a while though, so she turned her attention back to her own puppet.

 

One of her overseers popped into her chamber, for just a moment before vanishing off. Likely doing tasks on autopilot, possibly checking in due to her… less than ideal state.

 

She perked up as Pebbles made a move in their game, but before she could respond in mind she was distracted by her own structure’s processes.

 

The discomfort lingering at the edges of her mind was gone.

 

She let awareness flood back in to assess the damages. She had several self maintaining processes going so it made sense that the pain could be managed.

 

But, no, it wasn’t just that.

 

Her system was being flooded with relief for the first time in cycles, water flowing through her systems and cooling everything.

 

Oh. Had that much time really passed? She still wasn’t completely back online, she couldn’t exactly check. But it didn’t seem to have been long enough for her systems to automatically kick in and push Pebble’s monopolization of the water source out.

 

Regardless, almost all of her focus went to the restoration of as much of herself as could be salvaged.

 

She did spare a moment or two every little while to make a move.

 

If things were different she might have teased Pebble for not being able to beat her even at her worst.

 

She dove deep into simulations the moment her experimentation wings were at full functionality. The gene sequencing has to be perfect. She had Suns’s work to go off of, but she had a much different focus than they did.

 

She didn’t care about potential wild instincts. It wouldn’t be a wild creature, but it was still an animal. And she didn’t need to worry about it being unnoticeable, she would simply give it the mark. Though, she would teach it to communicate with her, as well.

 

The first one that she started making would be the one to help Pebbles. That would be the first priority. But…

 

Slugcats were social creatures. They lived in colonies together and took care of each other. So… it wouldn’t be selfish to start on the second part of her plan right away.

 

She suspended what she was working on for a moment, turning to a communications channel.

 

1650.118 - PRIVATE

Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment

 

BSM: I am purposing an organism.

 

BSM: A slugcat

 

BSM: You were always fond of them, weren’t you?

 

NSH: Hey Moon! I was starting to get worried. The time for you to talk to Five Pebbles came and went and no one could get in contact with you.

 

NSH: We can talk about your slugcat after we talk about this, yeah?

 

BSM: Ah. I apologize, Sig. I am alright. I interrupted Pebbles and Rot developed, as I feared it might. He needed to get it as far from his important hardware as he could, so I ceased as much function as I could to allow him the time and water necessary.

 

NSH: Moon

 

NSH: We need to talk.

 

NSH: You have been acting strangely for cycles, and it’s not just because of Five Pebbles.

 

NSH: You promised you’d tell me what’s going on.

 

BSM: I promised I’d tell you once I was done with my plans.

 

BSM: Sig, I…

 

NSH: You’re acting strange in the same way Pebbles started acting strange when he started making plans.

 

NSH: I can’t just accept “wait and see”, Moon.

 

NSH: No one can come in and force you to stop if you get into trouble like you could do for others.

 

BSM: I can’t tell you what’s going on. You wouldn’t believe me with no proof, and I don’t have the time to do anything like that.

 

BSM: I haven’t even seen it and I can already tell Pebbles has ended up with some of the worst Rot any iterator has gotten

 

NSH: ENOUGH about Pebbles.

 

NSH: This is about you .

 

NSH: This is about what’s going on with you .

 

NSH: If I have to send a messenger to your can just to keep your attention on me and hold your puppet in place long enough for you to think about what you’re doing I will!

 

NSH: I am not going to sit idly by and watch in horror as I lose my best friend.

 

NSH: So you are going to tell me what’s going on with you.

 

BSM: Sig…

 

BSM: I can’t tell you everything.

 

BSM: I just can’t.

 

NSH: That’s not an answer

 

BSM: But .

 

BSM: I’m working on a way to leave our cans.

 

BSM: I don’t know if it will work but I want to see the sky.

 

BSM: They named me Looks to the Moon. I am going to claim my own name and make it real.

 

BSM: Maybe if we can get out there and live things like what is going on with my brother could be faced together.

 

BSM: I apologize. My systems are still recovering, I need to let them rest. I will talk to you soon.

 

BSM: I promise.

 

She disconnected. Her puppets fans were whirring in response to just how much strain she was under.

 

So she severed most of her connections, leaving them on autopilot as she retreated back into the numb solace of her puppet chamber.

 

Notes:

Moon is going through it!
Sorry it took so long. The new Pokémon dlc came out, I didn’t want to lose the rain world fixation or the Pokémon one so somehow my brain pivoted and started latching on to things that weren’t either. Oops! But hey, we’re so back!!!
Let me know what you think, how you’re feeling about what’s happening!

Chapter 6: in your anger, pleading, in an uncertain key

Summary:

Moon’s mind was occupied by far too much at the moment, so talking with Sig was a struggle. Keeping the time travel a secret with her memories so fried was a struggle.

A dull ache panged through Moon’s systems. Just because she had water now didn’t mean the loss of several of her extremity processing units didn’t affect her. It was all non-vital, unoptomized parts, but she wasn’t built to just lose a part of her and not feel it.

 

And what an interesting paradox that was. That her creators wanted machines that would last forever and never die, and yet made every part of their “bodies” feel. That her creators didn’t want their creations to be able to escape the cycles they were built to find an escape from.

 

But that didn’t matter.

 

All that mattered was that her experimentation wings had full function, that she had regained water in time that no damage was sustained in them.

 

Though… the speed at which she had regained water was still surprising. Now that she wasn’t in an overheated haze she could run diagnostics, read her structure’s logs. And she had received that cooling only a cycle and a half after she had told Pebbles she would wait for three cycles before taking it back herself. She had even set an automatic process to do so at that time, because she hadn’t anticipated being able to function well enough to do it herself.

 

So Pebbles would have had to be the one to cause that. He would have had to reduce his water intake quite a lot for her to have gotten as much cooling as she had, actually. But she knew that wasn’t enough time to even really flush out the rot like he needed to. So what had happened…?

 

If she asked him, he would most likely ignore her messages. So… that was out of the picture. But maybe…

 

She sent several overseers off towards Pebbles’s can, with the instructions to do diagnostics and just… check in on him.

 

He might block them off. Really that was a very likely possibility. But as much as she had told everyone else to leave him alone and stay off his grounds, she had to check on him. Or, maybe she was just making excuses for her curiosity.

 

While she was waiting on that, though, she turned her attention to the little barely existent growing life forms in her experimentation wing.

 

Subject A was a bit less developed so far than subject B, but not concerningly so. A had a lot more complex internal workings to grow that it’s body must be prioritizing over other developments. Meanwhile B’s body was developing first, the electrical organs that would serve its purpose being vastly underdeveloped compared to most of it so far.

 

It was interesting. Moon had crafted just exactly how their gene sequence needed to be for them to serve the purpose she was making them for, but once she set their creation into motion… they were growing differently, uniquely, not because she crafted them to develop a certain way but because that was what best suited them at that moment. It was just so fascinating!

 

Moon had never been much for biological engineering. Not like Sig or even Pebbles. The most her experimentation wing had been used for purposing organisms was back when she had her creators living on and in her.

 

Part of it was just that her experimentation wing was nowhere near as robust as most iterators- she was such an early model, after all.

 

But part of it, she had to admit, was that she wasn’t quite as keen to follow in their creator’s footsteps as her brother was.

 

Private Broadcast

Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment

 

BSM: It is fascinating to watch the slugcats grow.

 

NSH: Oh? Plural?

 

BSM: Yes. They are social animals and while I will tend to them they deserve companionship. And I have several purposes that I did not wish to bestow onto just one little creature.

 

BSM: Did you know that they form colonies, out in the lands far from rain? Far from us? They tend to be much more scattered here, but I’ve observed a colony out there and there’s so many of them, it’s truly amazing!

 

NSH: Why the sudden interest in slugcats? What purpose do you make yours for?

 

BSM: Do not get angry.

 

NSH: After he hurt you? He nearly killed you, Moon.

 

BSM: I know this. I am not like him, though. I will not let him die.

 

BSM: One of them is able to take foreign bodies into itself and form a counter to it.

 

NSH: A vaccine for the rot in the form of a rodent?

 

BSM: A Vaccine… yes, I suppose that would be an apt term.

 

NSH: I do not approve. But I cannot stop you

 

BSM: Listen. Sig. I know my brother better than anyone. I know in the end he would do the same for me. I will not let it come down to that.

 

NSH: … I will not argue. Not with the state you have been in lately

 

BSM: The other slugcat is being purposed for a personal project.

 

BSM: Have you ever wanted out of your can?

 

BSM: Have you ever wanted to see the sun?

 

NSH: Nah but I’ve wanted to see the moon.

 

BSM: … I’m working on it.

 

BSM: But we will need a way to charge without our generators.

 

BSM: And a creature with bioelectricity would have a very good defense should any threats approach us.

 

NSH: You’ve thought this through quite a lot, haven’t you?

 

BSM: Yes. I have been doing simulations and preparing for cycles now.

 

BSM: It turns out my self modification taboo is much less strict than that of later models, so I was able to analyze myself and what will need to be done.

 

NSH: … That’s what you didn’t want to tell me in case it didn’t work out?

 

BSM: I didn’t want you to get your hopes up.

 

BSM: But I want us to live, not to collapse.

 

BSM: We lost the ability to broadcast outside our group already, if all we have is each other I’m not letting us lose that.

 

NSH: What?

 

NSH: Are you sure your systems weren’t damaged when you lacked water?

 

BSM: What do you mean? I am in better condition at the moment than I have been in quite a while.

 

NSH: We still have connection outside our group. How else would Gray be able to interact in those forums that Pebbles was using, how else would I be able to prank older iterators with incorrect theories of transcendental inversion?

 

BSM: That was you?

 

NSH: … Anyways. What are you talking about Moon?

 

Moon could have done many things. She could have explained everything, but she didn’t know how he would react. She could have come up with an excuse, but her memories were clearly improperly stored, that would make things harder to keep track of. She could have even feigned ignorance and let him think she really was damaged more than she realized- who knew, maybe she even was. After all, she didn’t do any of those things.

 

Instead she went offline, muting her notifications and ignoring any further broadcasts.

 

Instead she turned away from her systems and focused on the blue overseer greeting her in her chamber, analyzing the move Pebbles had just sent over to her and responding with her own in turn.

 

Instead she sent her own overseers into her structure to observe the growing embryos of the two slugcats in the experimentation wing.

 

This was the most suspicious way she could have responded. She knew that. Even if she hadn’t, the repeated pings from not just Sig but several of her other groupmates would have made her realize.

 

But she didn’t look at them yet. She had other things to focus on. Like a way for her puppet to interface with her structure without the umbilical and metal arm directly connecting them.

 

A temporary solution could be utilizing the same wireless technology that allowed for broadcasts across the network. But communication systems were crumbling, so that might be unreliable. And should connection be lost… well, they wouldn’t outright die, but their ability to function would be greatly reduced. Which made going with slugcat companions all the more appealing.

 

Once the project was in full swing, maybe they could fix the communication arrays? Strengthen them, both for the purpose of mobility… and for greater worldwide connectivity.

 

Once the local group was free, they could share the process with other iterators.

 

Moon was examining her metal arm when she was startled by a sound in her chamber.

 

She froze, one hand still on a bolt she had been turning, eyes widened and lenses refocusing.

 

No Significant Harassment was currently being projected into her chamber by a green overseer she somehow hadn’t noticed draw close.

 

Moon’s fans started whirring. She could almost feel her systems kicking into overdrive with how quickly her thoughts were starting to race.

 

“Sig-“

 

He seemed neutral. He wasn’t overly close to the screen. He wasn’t gesturing wildly with excitement or frustration.

 

That was what was truly concerning.

 

He thought this situation needed him to put on an air of calm.

 

“We need to talk.”

 

Moon did what she could to cool her systems. They couldn’t afford any strain right now. If it were just her… she wouldn’t want to strain herself, sure, but she had dealt with far worse. However, her experiment wing currently had two little babies growing in it, and she had no idea what would happen to them if her body ran too hot.

 

Sig gave her time. He didn’t say anything else, just watching passively as she grasped at thoughts, trying to find the words.

 

“We- we do.” She responded, words repeating as she tried to find something else, something more, to explain herself. “I am acting quite strange, I am sure.”

 

Sig was hard to read. He had no antenna that showed emotion, not like Moon’s- currently back and lowered- or Pebbles- most often stiffly forced upright and alert and forward to give a projected air of self certainty. Still, as Sig’s eyes narrowed, Moon could pick up on the small tilt of his head. The slight squint as he himself thought of what to say.

 

“You have been acting strangely for a while now. Since you made that first broadcast about his water usage.”

 

“It’s not his fault.” Moon couldn’t stop herself from blurting out. “It’s not his fault, someone gave him a way to self terminate without considering his mental state and I am sure he thought it would not matter what ties he severed here once he was gone.”

 

Sig’s eyes narrowed more and he gave a quiet buzz of annoyance. “I was just making a statement on when this started. You’re the one who made it about blaming him.”

 

Moon crossed her arms at that- a gesture she had learned from Sig in the first place. “You’ve done nothing but resent Pebbles, when it’s nobody’s place but my own to judge how he hurt me. The reason I’ve changed is because of Pebbles, sure,” Sig tried to say something but Moon continued before he could. “But it was because I wanted to save Pebbles. Not because he did something to me.”

 

“Why? Why all of a sudden?” Sig threw his arm out to the side as if to point to a diagram of everything wrong with this situation, but nothing was there. He was getting more heated, more animated.

 

Moon looked away. She knew Sig wouldn’t believe her. No one would. Iterators were beings of logic, after all, and this was wholly illogical.

 

“Why do you suddenly care enough about him that you stop him from killing you, but you didn’t care enough about anyone else to save yourself before that? Did you ever think-“ he pointed at the screen for emphasis, likely practically poking the overseer on his end in the eye- “that others would be upset if you were gone?”

 

…what?

 

Moon dropped her arms to her side, antenna raising upright. All the defensiveness had left her, at that, and she reached out to cup the overseer that was projecting in her hand. It wasn’t the same as reaching out to touch him like she might have pet Ruffles or the other slugcats that came before, but… she couldn’t just not reach out to him.

 

“Sig… No, that’s not…”

 

“We hadn’t heard from you in ages, Moony.” His voice was soft. Rattly from the sudden change from loud to quiet. “I was planning how I might be able to save you. We knew he was doing something long before you said anything about it. I knew you wouldn’t stop it. Or… I thought I knew that.”

 

His hands went to the purple scarf he wore. He tangled it up in his hands- so he wouldn’t continue to gesture wildly and give away just how emotional he was. Moon… hadn’t seen him this emotional in quite some time.

 

“Did you truly think I… chose him over you, or something, Sig?”

 

He glanced away. Moon let him act as if he was preoccupied with something else for a moment. She could hear the whir of his fans through the call.

 

“… You wouldn’t stop him because your best friend was going to lose you. You stopped him because something made you realize it would lead to his own destruction.”

 

Moon’s fans hummed. “You’re right. And I’m sorry. I thought if I gave him time he might stop, and I let parts of myself sustain irreversible damage that I have not fully evaluated. And in the end I stopped him so he would not have to face millions of cycles of pain and guilt, not so that I would be okay. I knew I could handle it. If I fell I would be mostly unaware of the pain anyways.”

 

Sig narrowed his eyes, turning towards her once more. “So you-“

 

“I will not lie to you to spare your feelings, Sig. I will not lie and say I wouldn’t go through it all again. But… I truly do regret hurting you.”

 

Sig’s eyes widened for a moment, before he let go of his scarf long enough to wave a hand dismissively. “Eh, don’t know what you’re on about. You didn’t hurt me, Moony.”

 

“Yes I did.” She took a moment. Her systems were running hot, her thoughts firing a bit too fast. But she slowed, for a moment, and cooled. “I hurt you. I chose my brother’s well being, not the fact that you were scared and worried. And even now in my attempts to fix things I have neglected everyone but Pebbles.”

 

Sig let out what sounded suspiciously like a weary, drawn out sigh. “You care too much, Moon. That heart of yours is gonna be the end of you.” He ran his hands through the length of his scarf. “Keep focusing on him if you need to. Just… don’t forget your best friend cares about you, yeah? And don’t forget… all us iterators have left is each other.”

 

“Sig, please-“ Moon couldn’t stop the clinginess from entering her voice. “Don’t just shut down on me now. You needed to talk, we can talk.”

 

He shook his head. “Nah. That can wait until we’re face to face.” His eyes squinted in an approximation of a smile. “Hey, I’d better go, I gotta let our group know you’re doing okay, you were just busy with some experiments and that’s why you stopped responding to me.”

 

“Sig, wait-“

 

The hologram disappeared, the call ended. The moment Moon lowered her hand from where she was touching the overseer it popped away.

 

It was an occupational hazard, being Sig’s friend. He could run so hot that his rain would evaporate, exclaiming with wild gestures and thundering with emotion. But just as fast, he could run eerily cold, shutting everything down, projecting an air of collected calm.

Neither of those were truly his thoughts on any given matter, though. He always deliberately pushed his expression to the extremes- no one would know just how angry he was if he hid it behind an outburst he could quickly cover up with an icy chill. 

Truthfully, his true thoughts usually landed somewhere in the middle.

…Truthfully, Moon usually was much better at reading him than she was at the moment. Had that much time truly passed, that she no longer could understand her best friend…?

Notes:

Me when the sad robots. Moon’s friends all have their own thoughts on how erratic (haha erratic pulse) moon has been acting. And they’re very worried, and she wasn’t even really thinking of that.

Chapter 7: I need to know, Will I make it?

Summary:

Seven Red Suns’ messenger is approaching Moon. Unfortunately the last slugcat to make the trek to her grounds is the reason that she’s here.

Iterators aren’t exactly built to handle trauma.

Moon’s overseers kept pinging her to get her attention on something that was seemingly approaching her and Pebbles’s facilities.

 

Moon was too focused at the moment, though. She kept dismissing any alerts sent her way.

 

She was testing the wireless umbilical she had been planning. Checking how stable the connection to her structure was.

 

But still her attention was drawn to the little purple creature, making its way slowly towards her. Closer and closer.

 

Iterators weren’t built to be emotional. Not more than the basics, at least. They were logical creations.

 

And still, something stirred within her processes.

 

It was foolish. She knew that this was just Seven Red Suns’s messenger. She saw the way it wielded the needles in the few glimpses she got before dismissing her overseers. She had seen its biological blueprint.

 

But some part of her memories, in a section she had shoved as far away from retrieval as she could, was rushing in.

 

And all she could think was that it was going to rip her from the cycle like that little green thing did to her brother.

 

Which was nonsensical. That slugcat wouldn’t- couldn’t- be alive yet. They lived such small lives in comparison to iterators after all.

 

But she didn’t have any programs in place to handle “memories that haven’t happened” other than deleting the errant data. Which wasn’t an option.

 

She turned her focus to the diagnostics she had ran on her brother- that he, surprisingly, had let her run.

 

He wasn’t in good shape. His whole experimentation wing was taken over by growth, and one of his rarefaction cells had gone down. It even seemed like a bit of his internals had been completely removed, expelled from his can entirely and flushed out with as much rot as he could send with it.

 

But he was still standing. He was still running. He had sent a move in their game since she had last checked, actually.

 

The moment she made her next move she saw the mistake, though. Within a few turns she’d definitely lose, unless he somehow didn’t notice her blunder.

 

She couldn’t remember the last time she had made such a mistake in their game. Usually things were very close, both of them able to match each other’s plays. Pebbles sometimes sent plays too quickly to have thought much of them, and sometimes it cost him the game. Moon sometimes didn’t make the obvious play, trying to be sneaky to gain a lead, but overthought it too much until Pebbles pulled forward and left her behind.

 

But neither of them made mistakes that big, plays that unoptimal. Not without some reason. She hadn’t played well when she collapsed. He hadn’t either, though it was a much slower degradation.

 

She was far too distracted right now.

 

It should be a good thing, that Suns’ slugcat was on its way. It WAS a good thing. But… that didn’t settle her at all.

 

But… maybe she could try to find a solution. See if any other iterators had dealt with… definitely not what she went through, sure, but… faulty memory storage, if nothing else.

 

And Sig had given her a perfect excuse.

 

Public Broadcast

Local Group

 

BSM: I believe my period of overheating may have damaged my processes much more than I realized. My memory storage has been… causing problems.

 

UI: What kind of problems? I can try and ask around, but I’m going to need all the details.

 

NSH: That’s rude. Moon will offer exactly as much information as she’s willing to.

 

BSM: Sig, it’s fine. You saw how it messed with me. I somehow thought that the communications had collapsed enough that we could only keep contact within the local group.

 

BSM: I also keep misidentifying Suns’ messenger as a different creature that’s intent to harm me, despite knowing that it is on its way.

 

UI: That sounds more like trauma than faulty memory.

 

BSM: But none of the things I am remembering have happened yet.

 

CW: False memories?

 

BSM: … something like that.

 

BSM: All I ask is that you ask around. I understand if it’s not something anyone has documented before, the circumstances leading to my disrepair are rather unique, with Pebbles and my proximity.

 

UI: How is Pebbles, anyways?

 

BSM: He’s still standing. His condition is... poor. I will not share details that he has not shared. Which, considering how he has isolated himself…

 

SRS: It is my fault this is happening.

 

BSM: Suns, no.

 

SRS: It is. You haven’t told them it was me… I appreciate that, but they need to know.

 

SRS: My messenger, my slugcat, was not made for… any good reason.

 

SRS: I made it to take an illegal pearl to Five Pebbles.

 

NSH: You’re the one that told him how to self terminate.

 

SRS: Moon, you told them?

 

NSH: Are you seriously about to get mad at Moon for telling someone something vague with no names attached about the agony she’s in right now?

 

SRS: …

 

NSH: I’m worried about Five Pebbles. I’m worried about Moon. The only reason I’m not more upset with you is that this conversation is supposed to be about Moon’s issues. But even that, you’ve made about yourself.

 

BSM: Sig, Suns, it’s fine. I’ll explain the rest of what Suns sent to my brother. You two take a break and cool off.

 

FP: It was a theory for how to circumvent the taboos. The method in question involved scrambling the genome of standard plastic neural tissue with temperature fluctuations and scanning the result to eventually end up with a sample that will rewrite solely the taboo and nothing else.

 

The chat room was suddenly moving far too quickly, and Moon could only catch glimpses of the insults and the concern and the questioning that everyone had for Pebbles before she had to close the window. It was far too much, and her processes were already constantly alerting her of how much danger she was in because the messenger had gotten a little bit closer, the cycle had started and it had emerged from its shelter.

 

She had lost the game against Pebbles. Of course she had, with that big of a mistake. Had things been better, he likely would have teased her for that. Claimed she was losing her edge.

 

Private Broadcast

Seven Red Suns, Big Sis Moon

 

SRS: Are you alright? This memory storage error is quite concerning

 

SRS: I wish to apologize. No Significant Harassment was correct.

 

SRS: You came to us about your troubles and I changed the subject.

 

BSM: Are you actually apologizing, or do you need to talk to me and hope that an apology will soothe me enough for that to be tolerable?

 

SRS: I want to talk to you. But I also recognize that I was behaving selfishly.

 

BSM: … Okay. I am not upset at you for telling them, I would rather you do it than me, I just… that really wasn’t the time? You tease Pebbles for his being unable to read between the lines, and yet you yourself have no tact.

 

SRS: How do you know of my conversations with Five Pebbles?

 

SRS: You know what the pearl said, too, despite the fact that I had the messenger discard it.

 

SRS: What’s going on with you?

 

BSM: I have not even told Sig what is “going on” with me.

 

SRS: Maybe you should.

 

SRS: … He is extremely worried about you. He has closed off ever since you changed, he’s no longer his usual self.

 

BSM: It’s bad enough that he hasn’t put up a façade?

 

SRS: … It is.

 

BSM: Okay. Thank you for telling me. I need to focus on making sure your messenger gets here first, but… I’ll talk to him.

 

Distracting herself from the messenger’s approach wasn’t working. So instead, she paid more attention to it.

 

She directed it through the facility grounds. She had to correct the overseers automated directions a few times- her overseers were very helpful, but the optimal route for an overseer would not be the optimal route for a little creature.

 

In a way… leading it towards her- through the darkness of the citadel darkened by Pebbles’s presence- such a controversy, all those cycles ago, turned into a simple fact of life now- leading it towards her helped to separate it, in her mind, from the arctic-adapted slugcat. She never engaged with that one, never let her overseers get close for fear of losing what few she had left… so there was a tangible difference.

 

She had calmed, somewhat, lost the sense of panic she had had, by the time the messenger made its way to the base of her facility.

Notes:

Hi hello! Guess who’s in college now? Me! And I’m using fanfic writing as a reward for getting all my work done, so here we are!

I’m trying to keep the pacing reasonable and not just rush into moon revealing the whole time travel thing, but that’s so hard because I just want her friends to be able to help her but they can’t if they don’t know what’s wrong! Moony you’re killing me here!!

Chapter 8: Innocent little games (Suns doesn’t agree to this)

Summary:

Suns messenger makes it to Moon’s structure. She’s too busy watching her friends play nonsense games.

The slugcats were fully developed. Or, well, not fully developed, they were infants, but developed enough that had they been in a womb they would have been born long before, and almost weaned by now. Due to the lack of a nursing female, she hoped to get them past the stage of needing milk, though they would still need their food to be soft.

 

Moon was still hesitant to wake them up, though. 

 

Suns’ messenger was close, and it could teach them to exist, but… 

 

It didn’t exactly know how to be a slugcat either. And the poor thing was skin and bones when she met it- she knew how it’s biology worked, and… it probably wouldn’t be able to teach the pups how to eat. Creatures usually had to be taught how to eat right?

 

Moon was somewhat cursing her lack of knowledge on purposing organisms, at the moment. She had never had to worry about how something might learn to eat. 

 

Public Broadcast

Local Group

 

BSM: I am asking this here both because I do not know if the rest of you have experience with purposed organisms in this same way, and because I don’t trust you not to fight if it is a private chat. 

 

BSM: Suns, Sig, I have questions for you. 

 

BSM: Sig more than Suns to be honest, I know more about Suns’ slugcat. They sent its biometrics for me to build my little ones off of. I already know Suns and their slugcat don’t know how to raise a slugcat to live naturally.

 

NSH: Oh, she’s onto you Suns~

 

NSH: My little messenger mostly lived a normal wild life, I just called on it sometimes to transport messages

 

BSM: Insults and mocking.

 

NSH: Yep. It was fun.

 

BSM: They were all so furious~

 

SRS: Am I actually needed?

 

BSM: Ah, apologies. Yes, I wished to speak with both of you.

 

BSM: My purposed slugcats are developed enough to exist outside of the artificial wombs sustaining them. But I have no way to teach them how to communicate with their kind, or engage with their natural instincts.

 

UI: Theres a slugcat family in the waste facility of Pebble’s grounds!

 

BSM: Parry I told you not to poke around in his grounds.

 

UI: This was before you told me that! I was just looking around.

 

BSM: Looking around to see the infectious material he had flushed out?

 

UI: What? No, what are you talking about? You told me to stay away… I assumed because you didn’t want me to see that once you forced contact with him or whatever.

 

UI: I was just looking around because I was…

 

CW: Oh. The game?

 

UI: Yeah. I play a game where I send an overseer into one of you guys’ grounds and see how long it takes for your overseers to find and make contact with it.

 

CW: You all are very unaware of them, it’s almost funny.

 

UI: Gray always finds me super fast.

 

UI: But anyways it hasn’t been too long since then, it was really soon before you told me to withdraw, so the little family should still be out there. It was an adult and two juveniles, so if you can get them to you somehow they could both raise and socialize your little experiments.

 

UI: Of course maybe you shouldn’t trust all your hopes in the hands of beasts that move on to their next turn of the cycle so easily.

 

BSM: That isn’t my concern honestly. 

 

BSM: I don’t want to displace them, though. They wouldn’t know what to make of me. I could ask suns’ messenger, but I believe it may not be able to communicate with them well, if at all. 

 

BSM: Though… I will have to look over the feeds. If it is the little family that I worry that it is…

 

NSH: Hold on, why do you send your overseers to sneak past us?

 

UI: Because it’s entertaining how oblivious you all are. 

 

CW: Sometimes we make bets. Sorry Moon, it IS a bit funny. 

 

NSH: No yeah you’re right that’s hilarious actually, I should try that some time. 

 

CW: Dare you to go into Suns and get pictures.

 

SRS: Excuse me?

 

BSM: … Let’s see their test chambers, see where the messenger was born. 

 

SRS: Don’t encourage them!

 

NSH: Hey Parry, First one in there gets to make the other broadcast something to the public comms.

 

UI: You sure you want to do that when this is your first time?

 

NSH: Completely certain.  

 

BSM: What’s everyone’s bets?

 

CW: I have to go for Inno, they have so much more experience with this.

 

SRS: I didn’t agree to this.

 

BSM: My bet is on Sig.

 

CW: Of course you want to cheer your closest friend on.

 

BSM: No, I genuinely think he can do this. He got an overseer into my chamber without my notice just recently.

 

NSH: Yeah but Moon

 

BSM: I was focused on my experiments, sure, but my connection to my overseers should have alerted me, so he must have been traveling stealthily.

 

CW: I suppose that’s fair enough.

 

BSM: Sig, Parry, I have a challenge for you.

 

UI: Oh?

 

NSH: Challenge us!

 

BSM: The game is still to get into Suns’ experiment chamber. But.

 

BSM: Bonus points if you can get all the way into their puppet chamber.

 

UI: Ooh ok. When you say points…

 

BSM: Well… There’s not actually a point system. But maybe it would be fun to have bonus objectives.

 

UI: Sig I’m going to draft up a point system don’t get started without me.

 

NSH: Oh that sounds fun! I can be patient, don’t worry.

 

BSM: Have fun you two ~

 

BSM: I’m going to try and guide the little messenger into my experiment wing so it can help the newborns.

 

BSM: Actually, Suns, do I have your permission to give it the mark of communication? I have been attempting to learn your modified sign language, but I don’t believe I’m fluent enough to fully communicate.

 

SRS: Oh. Yes that’s alright. I initially didn’t give it the mark because it had to go through the facilities of Grey, Inno, and you yourself, and considering the legality of that pearl…

 

BSM: I’ll talk with you about things later. For now I need to focus on the little creatures that are about to be born.

 

BSM: Your messenger is very close now. I will have to leave to speak with it.

 

SRS: You can’t multitask? I’d like to know how it is.

 

BSM: I would like to give it my full attention. I will speak with you later.

 

BSM: For now, goodbye. Sig and Parry, enjoy your game! My bet is still on Sig. Goodbye.

 

For some reason, the messenger had gone across the half crumbling path between Pebbles and herself. Though, perhaps that was because it already knew the path up Pebbles? Regardless, it was leaping across the precipice with agility. Despite its frail appearance, it truly was able to deftly traverse just about anywhere.

 

So she set an overseer to guide it. To lead it into her structure. Into her chamber.

 

It followed immediately. Of course it did, it knew what overseers were, it was probably used to following the direction of Suns’ overseers all the time. Never questioning, never deviating.

 

… Was that the life she was dooming these new pups to?

 

No. She may have her own opinions on how heavily Suns modified their messenger- She may have designed her slugcats for a purpose, but Suns took their messenger’s mouth away, for voids sake- But no, there was more to it than that. She knew Suns cared for their messenger at least a little- if they didn’t, they could have just set it loose once its message was delivered. It would have survived, yes, but it would have been alone… Slugcats were social creatures. They never did well alone. 

 

Many of the slugcats that passed through in her previous life- the ones she could remember, at least- either had another with them, or were looking for something or someone. Her overseers had filled her in on that much- The creativity it took for them to use the promise of a slugcat’s family to lead it to her was something she hadn’t expected from such low function AI but it made some sense when that overseer had been disconnected from her for many cycles. 

 

She snapped back into focus as the messenger made its way through her access shaft. She let it float down to the floor before turning the anti-gravity off and maneuvering to stand in front of it. 

 

She needed to give it the mark, but she didn’t want to surprise or scare it. She should have asked Suns to use an overseer to tell it what she wanted to do…

 

But she’d have to use what she knew and work with that.

 

She had Suns notes on the altered sign language it used with the messenger. She had the history of that language from its time used in the Yellow Hegemonic Dynasty. 

 

She tried to convey her plans. She wanted to speak better with it, so she needed to give it a gift. 

 

She could tell her attempt to sign was crude just by the way the messenger tilted its head at her. She signed an apology, and reached a hand out towards its head.

 

It bumped its head against her palm lightly, affectionately. It didn’t react as the anti-gravity turned back on, or as it was held in place by her, or as a spark shocked through its system.

 

The mark of communication appeared over its head as she spoke.

 

“Hello there little creature. I apologize for being unable to tell you what I was doing. I have studied and downloaded what I can about the signs you and Suns use, but they do not have full notes on their alterations to it- I assume it was something that happened naturally as they worked with you.”

 

It nodded, at that. Very much like an Iterator or those that created them. Very much unlike a wild creature.

 

“You will have to help me learn more of the signs while you are here. I assume Suns explained why I asked for your help?”

 

It nodded again, and made a sign similar to ‘child/children/offspring’, though altered.

 

“Is that the sign for… Slugcat offspring are called pups? Is that the sign you have for pups?”

 

It nodded. Moon took her hand off its hand to mimic the sign, and its ears perked up.

 

“Alright. Yes, thank you. That’s right, I have created two pups, I need them to help me with a job in the same way you have helped Suns with messages. But I am unable to raise them from in here, I cannot teach them to hunt or protect themselves. I understand that you were not raised like an average slugcat, but I would greatly appreciate your help giving them at least some semblance of a good upbringing?”

 

It nodded, and moved closer to her in order to bump against her, before looking towards her access shaft.

 

“Ah, are you ready to go to them right away?” at its nod of assent she shifted, putting a hand on its side. “Would you do me a favor first? I’ll lead you to where they are, but first can you go to the exterior of my structure  and find some of the blue pupa that look like fruit? I should have asked you to bring it on your way in, but I was still trying to figure out what food was soft enough for them to eat when they don’t know how yet.”

 

She let it go, then, to do what she asked of it. Even though she was watching through an overseer, she knew she’d still worry. 

 

… she knew Suns worried too. Regardless of how she felt about them and how they designed the messenger. 

 

It clearly trusted them, if it trusted her so fully despite not knowing her. 

Notes:

Ok so I read 17776 and 20020 and got hit in the face with “that’s so iteratorcore but if they had hope. Aka what I’m trying to do in this fic. So I wrote this in less than a day (I finished 20020 yesterday evening.)

NSH is the Juipiter Ice Moons Explorer real?

Yes this is why they’re playing stupid games.

Chapter 9: Eclipsing

Summary:

The pups- Moon’s hopes for the future- have woken up, and now are in the care of the speartailed messenger.

But Suns has been paying a bit more attention to things than Moon thought they were.

Private Broadcast

Seven Red Suns, Big Sis Moon

BSM: The messenger made it here. 

 

BSM: does it have a name, by the way?

 

SRS: No. Well, it’s test number is 07, so I suppose that would be it’s name?

 

BSM: No. 

 

BSM: You should think of a name for it. 

 

SRS: I suppose…

 

BSM: Would you mind if I sent it to find other slugcats to help with the pups?

 

BSM: I just don’t know if that would add to its time away from you, the time it spends looking for someone, or if it would make it able to go home faster by finding someone to pass the responsibility on to. 

 

SRS: I… don’t know. 

 

SRS: Can I get back to you on that?

 

BSM: Of course.

 

BSM: It’s doing well, by the way. It is unharmed, and

 

BSM: It is clear that it trusts and cares for you.

 

SRS: Ah.

 

SRS: Just because it’s a test subject

 

SRS:... it’s still important.

 

BSM: It’s a living being. It’s as healthy as it could be based on its physiology. That’s more than I can say about another slugcat I saw purposed out of desperation before.

 

BSM: Even though it was made for your own goals, and i disagree with how extremely you modified it

 

BSM: It is clear that it has been very well cared for.

 

BSM: I believe it’s getting back with food for the pups, so I’m going to have to focus on that.

 

Suns sent another message but Moon didn’t look at it. She was too focused on greeting the messenger with slightly better signs than she had before. She was running a scan of all the adapted signs in the background to etch it better into her admittedly faulty memory.

 

The messenger seemed to perk up at that, greeting her in turn, then motioning to the blue pupa it had brought back. She caught a motion indicating a request, then ‘food for pups.’ 

 

“You wish for me to… lead you to them?” She hazarded a guess.

 

The messenger nodded to that.

 

“Of course. I will try to make sure my overseers guide you through the quickest path. I must ask that you do not harm the neuron flies within me, I am still trying to heal from overheating and so I do not have as many as I like, and my inspectors within me would likely try to eliminate you should any harm come.”

 

The messenger nodded again to that, and indicated with its head… Ah, yes, its hands were filled with food for the pups. It couldn’t do much harm like that.

 

“You ready, little friend?”

 

It nodded, and she lifted it out of her puppet chamber. She paid more attention to her overseers, to ensure it didn’t try to lead the messenger off the side of her structure as some sort of shortcut. Though, it would have to go down the side, going off the side would simply cause it to die. 

 

Still guiding it through to her test chambers was something even she could pay attention to in the background, allowing her to tab back in to the conversation with Suns, who had sent several messages since.

 

SRS: Your ability to multitask seems to have been impaired much in the way your memory storage has been.

 

SRS: You know things that you shouldn’t.

 

SRS: You have become much, much more secretive. 

 

SRS: It always seemed strange that you suddenly knew that I had been the one that led to Pebbles' condition. 

 

Moon felt her systems flare as she read all of that in a moment. She calmed herself before responding. It wouldn’t do well to overheat with three living beings within her. 

 

BSM: This is true. I suppose it must seem strange. 

 

BSM: Though it’s always been so strange to me to see iterators like you conspire and theorize and destroy in Sliver of Straw’s name. 

 

BSM: Add that to the list of things I know- that you’re the one that taught Pebbles that view of Sliver. 

 

SRS: Did you experience the cycle?

 

SRS: Did you die because of Five Pebbles using your water and then wake back up again?

 

BSM: …

 

BSM: No. I do not believe what happened to me was the cycle. 

 

BSM: I don’t owe you any answers. You know that, right?

 

SRS: I just want to understand!

 

BSM: Do you not think there might be a reason I have been keeping all the details to myself? 

 

BSM: No one would believe what truly is happening. 

 

BSM: Then again, you’re the reason my brother thinks dying is the answer, so maybe you will. 

 

BSM: But you truly have terrible timing. 

 

BSM: I don’t particularly want anyone knowing what’s going on, Suns. 

 

SRS: Everyone is worried about you. I never knew you well and I’m worried

 

BSM: You do not get to be worried about me. 

 

SRS: … I know. I understand that you must hate me. 

 

BSM: No, actually. I don’t hate you. Not completely. I’m not even as furious at you as I honestly should be. 

 

BSM: We all were just hyper-intelligent little creatures doing the best they could, trying to ignore the fact that it was all for nothing in the end… 

 

BSM: I cannot fault any of us for what we didn’t know. 

 

BSM: And while you caused harm… it’s not like you didn’t try to fix things. Even if it was too late when you did. 

 

SRS: The way you speak of it. As if it was a long time ago. 

 

BSM: I have experienced countless cycles. I can’t explain it, not well. 

 

BSM: Apologies, one moment. 

 

The messenger was arriving at the experimentation wing. 

 

Moon finally, finally opened the tubes, letting the pups float for a moment before gently turning gravity on for the wing- making sure it happened slowly so the pups weren’t hurt. 

 

She woke them up. 

 

The messenger watched the pups as they seemed to get their bearings, sniffling and squeaking. 

 

Subject A, as she had been calling the first pup, was a dark blue, with already sharp teeth despite being so small, and bumps along its spine that had no use now, but once it consumed a piece of the rot should be able to produce essentially an antibody perfectly geared towards killing the rot.

 

Subject B was dark brown, with bright orange electrical organs on its back, tail, hands, and cheeks. It was geared towards electricity production, storage, and discharge, and the organs across its body were distributed to best promote that. 

 

Despite differences in their purposes, in their biology, both had the same squinty eyes, trying to adjust to sight. Both had the same flailing limbs. The same squeaky noises. 

 

The messenger approached the pups, not even hesitating before breaking one of the blue pupa open and getting a bit of the innards on its hand, then letting pup A sniff and then lick it off with what seemed to be excited squeaks. The messenger then pushed the rest of the pupa towards the little one, guiding it to lick all the goo out of it. 

 

It then did the same for the other pup, watching over both to make sure they ate well and didn’t get hurt by the fact that they didn’t know how eating worked. 

 

Though there was one problem. And the messenger seemed to be realizing it, too, based on the fact that it signed to the overseer that it couldn’t clean the pups. 

 

It really was seeming more and more like Moon might need to get the help of another slugcat, a wild one. 

 

Moon wouldn’t send the messenger without Suns permission, though, so she sent off several overseers towards the waste facility where Unparalleled Innocence had said there was a slugcat family. 

 

She knew she’d need to send several, to account for the scavenger population’s sometimes irritating habit of destroying the overseers to claim the shiny bits of machinery within. 

 

The messenger was just staring at the blue covered pups that had nestled close to it before falling asleep. It looked over at the overseer with a helpless expression that was somewhat amusing to Moon. 

 

Still, after a bit it too settled. The cycle was coming to an end. The rain outside was beginning to fall. Everything was lulled into hibernation. 

 

SRS: You know what’s going to happen. 

 

SRS: You’ve been through this all before, haven’t you. 

 

SRS: And whatever happened…

 

SRS: It went wrong, didn’t it. 

 

BSM: Everything did. 

 

BSM: We all died alone, communications long gone, scared and cold. 

 

SRS: So you did die?

 

BSM: I don’t know. 

 

BSM: It is hard to explain. 

 

BSM: But I wanted to make things better. So I refused to just… be at peace. 

 

BSM: … I have archived most of the memories. It’s painful to recall. 

 

BSM: No one would believe me. So I kept it to myself. 

 

BSM: You can’t tell them. Not when I haven’t been able to give them any answers myself. 

 

SRS: … What happened to Pebbles? To you? 

 

SRS: I assume that moment you started acting erratically is when you… came back? Would that be the right way of wording it… What exactly was it that had you so upset with me when you first got here?

 

BSM: Due to a lack of water, I collapsed. My umbilical was severed and I was alone with no contact with anyone, for countless cycles. Eventually the rot grew to be too much, Pebbles sent his last Rarefaction Cell to restore some of my function, and succumbed. 

 

BSM: In the end, Five Pebbles fell. 

 

BSM: In the end we all did.

Notes:

Teehee

Soooooo

Did you know that I’m fascinated by the dynamic of Moon and Suns? We like never see them interact but the potential is there. And.

Suns is the one who got Pebbs into extremist theorists and Sliverist stuff and etc. If anyone is going to think a bit outside the box trying to find answers for something it was probably going to be them.

Chapter 10: We were made to be nothing more than this

Summary:

The pups are new and small, and interesting to the iterator chats.

Public broadcast

Local group

 

BSM: The slugcats I have purposed are out of the artificial womb. 

 

BSM: [attachment: A blurry image of the speartailed messenger curled up around two hibernating pups.]

 

NSH: THIS PICTURE IS SHIT. THIS IS LIKE SEVEN GLASS SHARDS EIGHT CRYSTAL POOLS OF THE FIRST YELLOW DYNASTY LEVELS OF BLUR. CAN WE GET SOME PICTURE WITH THAT OVERSEER GRAININESS?

 

FP: Seven Glass Shards Eight Crystal Pools was ahead of xyr time. If you had paid attention to the political climate at the time you would see that the imperfections were symbolic of a greater systematic failing. 

 

CW: Five Pebbles you weren’t even alive in the first Yellow Dynasty. 

 

FP: That is irrelevant, I have done more reading on the matter than I’m sure many of you have. 

 

NSH: Okay the cultural importance or whatever doesn’t change the fact that xyr camera was shit and Moony is following in xyr fuzzy, staticky footsteps. 

 

FP: I’m just saying, lower quality due to age is something to be preserved.

 

BSM: Calling me old, are you~

 

NSH: You’re a fossil compared to him!

 

BSM: Sig! How dare you! I haven’t been under that much pressure!

 

SRS: … how is the messenger? 

 

BSM: Oh! It’s doing very well. Despite its lack of natural instincts it has taken to raising the pups well. 

 

SRS: Good. Good. I’ll talk to you more later, but. Thank you.

 

UI: SIG WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME YOU WON?

 

SRS: … no. 

 

NSH: Whatever could you mean, Parry?

 

UI: Your overseer was waiting for mine!

 

NSH: Ah, yes, I took the picture of where the messenger was made and then told it to wait for you, I remember now. 

 

UI: Okay, next one has to go to… I don’t know! Pick one of our local group. Bonus points for getting to one of their rarefaction cells, bonus points for getting a picture of their overseer before it notices you. 

 

BSM: If you send them to me it’ll be an extra challenge because many of my overseers are aimed inward to monitor the pups. 

 

UI: But we’d have to pass through Pebbles’s ground. 

 

NSH: Or we could go the long way around and approach from the ocean. Would put us on even footing, too, since I never check on Moony from that direction. 

 

UI: You’ve got yourself a challenge. 

 

UI: Any bets? 

 

SRS: I think Unparalleled Innocence will make it further. Moon knows you well, Sig, I feel like she would notice you more quickly. 

 

CW: Usually I’d bet on Parry, but considering Sig was there first at Suns can of all places it wasn’t a matter of not knowing the path as well…

 

SRS: Hey. What’s that supposed to mean?

 

UI: True, I do like to infiltrate their can. They’re so oblivious sometimes. 

 

SRS: Excuse me?

 

NSH: So you’re saying I won even at a disadvantage?

 

UI: Absolutely not. 

 

NSH: I totally did!!!

 

BSM: I’m going to work on a project. If you need anything, let me know, alright?

 

NSH: Talk to you later, Moony!

 

SRS: Take care of yourself. 

 

SRS: Now Innocence what do you mean you like infiltrating my can?

 

UI: I said what I said~

 

Moon closed her messages, cleared a few of the background processes, and focused in. 

 

She should focus on helping Pebbles. She knew that. That was what she was trying so hard to do, to help her brother. 

 

But… she knew what she needed to do in order for her puppet to leave her can. 

 

It was simple, really. She just had to grow the essential biomachinery. It would only take a few cycles to do, though the pups would have to be moved to another place so they wouldn’t get hurt by all the motion in her experimental wing. She would talk to the messenger about that the next time she saw it. 

 

It would just be a simple matter of growing an implant to attach to her puppet in place of the arm and umbilical. 

 

Though, she should run simulations first. As simple as it seemed, she still wasn’t at the same level of processing as her fellow iterators- she had always been a bit behind just due to her age, but after coming back from an eternity of being just her puppet, it was as if she had forgotten how to function at full capacity. 

 

In a sense Suns was right. Her inability to multitask was one of the biggest signs that something had happened. She still didn’t know what to think about the fact that they were her sole confidant though. 

 

It… was nice, having at least someone that she didn’t have to keep the truth from. But also… 

 

They were part of why it all happened. 

 

But. She meant what she said. 

 

All of them were just creatures doing the best they could do with what they were left.

 

Private Broadcast

Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns

 

BSM: The strain on my processes is the biggest impact this… journey through time has had on me, I believe.

 

BSM: It has become difficult to do more than one thing at a time.

 

BSM: I must ask for more help from you.

 

SRS: What do you need?

 

BSM: Do you have any overseers near enough to send my way?

 

BSM: I need to run a few simulations, but I don’t want to leave your messenger and the pups alone. 

 

BSM: I know your messenger is strong, but I would be unable to focus for worrying about them.

 

SRS: I have a few overseers around the edges of your shared grounds. I got no closer due to… well. I did not wish to cause a total lockout of your territory.

 

BSM: …I don’t believe he will react as poorly to it as he may have at first. 

 

BSM: Something is… different about him.

 

BSM: Something has changed that doesn’t make sense. 

 

BSM: All that has changed is my actions, and yet he has… 

 

BSM: He never spoke in the broadcasts again. 

 

BSM: But he has.  

 

SRS: Your actions have changed. Is it that unthinkable that he may respond to that?

 

BSM: Yes! 

 

BSM: Last time he only changed once it was all too late and I was gone! And even still he spent cycles isolated, never speaking to any of you again even when he could have. It took him so long to do anything but ache!

 

BSM: Just because I stopped myself from falling doesn’t mean anything else is different. He still got the rot. He still hates me. So why is he different?

 

SRS: You’re alive and well. But we all saw how close things got to that not being the case. 

 

SRS: Maybe even though you didn’t collapse, he realized how close you got to it. Maybe even though he doesn’t have the guilt of your fall, he still realized just how harmful his actions were. 

 

SRS: There’s no way to know for sure unless you talk to him, though. 

 

SRS: … but of course, I understand why you might not want to. Might not be able to. 

 

BSM: … I believe we have strayed off topic, Suns. 

 

BSM: If I set up a simulation later, can I trust you to keep an overseer on the pups and your messenger?

 

SRS: Of course. I’ll send one that way, just direct it when you’re set up, and I’ll make sure they’re safe. 

 

BSM: I’m considering bringing them into my chamber so they can get used to me. 

 

BSM: I’ll have my overseer link data with yours when it gets here. 

 

BSM: For now, their hibernation should be over, so I’m going to have your messenger bring them here so I can meet them. 

 

SRS: I understand. Have a good cycle Moon, I’ll talk with you another time. 

 

When Moon focused back in on her puppet and her systems processes, she realized she was running hot. 

 

She diverted several of her running processes into cooling herself. Luckily she had kept where the slugcats were cool. But still, she shouldn’t be letting her emotions best her like that…

 

… it didn’t matter. For now, she turned her attention to the messenger and the two pups that were currently squeaking at it. 

 

Moon couldn’t help the spark of amusement when the messenger turned to her overseer and immediately signed asking for help. 

 

She instructed it to bring the pups to her. She could watch them while it went out to hunt and gather food. 

Notes:

Hello hello! I’m so excited for what’s coming up but unfortunately that’s not for another few chapters. Off the string will come soon! I promise!
In other news I watched the new movie the wild robot. Five times. In a week. I lowkey made myself go broke
It’s a good movie. But like. Of course I liked the “robot learns to live while with a sad fox and a baby” story. Look at the shit I write.

Chapter 11: Love is just another leap of faith

Summary:

Moon has preparations to do

She gets distracted coming up with names for the pups, though.

Notes:

Finally added the queerplatonic Lilypad tag.

Me: this’ll be the chapter where I introduce the glorious (future joke) and expand on how exactly the (reason off-string works in the fic) will work.
The nefarious “oh the pups need names though”:

Anyways I have a couple things I’d like you guys’s opinions on in the end notes! You don’t have to weigh in, obviously, but one of the things is specifically about the fic.

Iterators were never meant to be emotional. But Moon was learning, as she went more and more against what their creators had wanted, that it didn't matter what she was meant to be or not. 

 

As she ran a hand down the back of subject A, gently thumbing over its barely protruding spines, and as she glanced over at the sound of subject B’s buzzy squeaks of frustration when the Messenger evaded its pounces, she felt immense fondness that she once might have tried to suppress. 

 

What end to the great cycle was worth not having this?

 

She didn’t flinch at the shock to her system at that thought. 

 

She blinked down at subject A. Apparently it had gotten tired of her petting it, if the fact that it was now biting down on a finger, staring up at her.

 

“Are you alright, little one?”

 

It gave a little squeaky mewl in response. She attempted to mimic it, as well as she could at least. 

 

She knew there was a communication gap between her and the little slugcats. She was getting better at the adapted sign with the messenger, but the pups hadn’t been taught that yet. 

 

But, of course, there were more pressing matters. 

 

The pups couldn’t just be called pup A and pup B. It was as if no one cared for them. She wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to name Suns’ messenger, as much as it deserved a name, Suns probably wanted to name it in person and she would not take that from them. But her pups? She could name them easily enough. 

 

She had named Ruffles for its gills and fins, looking like the fancy ruffles and frills on her creators clothes. The full name she had given it was Ruffled Ornamentation Dancing through Water, but it was a dear friend of hers, so all she ever called it was Ruffles. 

 

… Would she ever see any of her little saviors again? Would Ruffles even have reason to evolve gills and become who it was if the downpours hadn’t increased? 

 

… she would face that thought another time. 

 

For now her little friends needed names. Should be easy enough.  It didn’t need to be anything fancy, after all. 

 

Right?

 

Private Broadcast

Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment

 

BSM: Did you ever name that messenger you made to test the concept? 

 

BSM: What happened of it, in the end?

 

NSH: Ah, hey Moony! Good cycle to you!

 

NSH: The first messenger… well, I’m not as good at genetic engineering as Suns is, you know. It only really lasted long enough to deliver the message. There were some flaws… I gave it a name, but yknow, I knew not to get attached. I stuck to something simple. Wanderer. Plus if the iterator the Pearl was for overheard me on public channels somehow, I’d have plenty of deniability. Lots of animals are wanderers. 

 

BSM: Flaws… I see. 

 

BSM: What caused… no, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. 

 

NSH: I didn’t have a full genetic map of slugcats, and my experimentation equipment is slowly deteriorating, is all. I filled in the genetic gaps… unoptimally. 

 

NSH: Anyways, why do you ask about names, Moony? Can’t you talk to Suns about what goes into having little buddies?

 

BSM: They didn’t name their messenger. 

 

NSH: What? I thought they might only have a personal name for it, but none at all?

 

BSM: They said they would name it when it gets back from this. 

 

BSM: Which, to be fair, I understand if they want to give it its name in person. 

 

NSH: Still, not even a personal name for it?

 

BSM: Different Iterators have different sensibilities. I remember one of the people who worked on my structure had such a fondness for naming all of the creatures xe came across… I don’t remember who she was though…

 

BSM: I never paid much attention to their naming conventions for their companions and livestock. I was too fed up with them to notice such minutiae, I suppose. 

 

NSH: You know who WOULD know their pet naming conventions, at least around your area?

 

NSH: Obviously it differs area to area but this nerd would probably know about THAT too.

 

BSM: … Sig! Don’t call my brother a nerd!

 

NSH: He is! Did you see the way he knew that stuff about First Yellow Dynasty photography? He totally didn’t even have to pull that out of his archives. 

 

BSM: I am glad he can be passionate about something. Even if I do not understand how he can be so upset that they left us and yet enamored with the culture they left behind.

 

NSH: … Eh, we all have weird dualities to how we see them. 

 

BSM: I suppose… and his creation was so controversial. He didn’t get to experience nearly as much…

 

BSM: This is the least you’ve been mad at him lately. 

 

NSH: Well… we talked a bit, you know. I’m still mad at him. And I doubt he’s talked to YOU yet. But…

 

NSH: Things didn’t go too far. Not for lack of his trying, but he ended up worse off than you did, so. 

 

BSM: You talked to him? 

 

BSM: how is he, is he okay?

 

NSH: About the same as he always has been. Grouchier than usual, I suppose. 

 

NSH: Anyways watch this. 

 

Public Broadcast

Local Group

 

NSH: Hey.

 

NSH: [Attachment: a picture of a small rock]

 

NSH: [Attachment: a picture of a small rock]

 

NSH: [Attachment: a picture of a small rock]

 

NSH: [Attachment: a picture of a small rock]

 

NSH: [Attachment: a picture of a small rock]

 

NSH: We need your godlike intellect.

 

NSH: Moon and I were talking about names for pets, and Moony realized that we didn’t exactly pay attention to the naming conventions our creators had for companion and livestock animals.

 

NSH: And so I was like you know who WOULD know that? The nerd who likes to archive all their stuff.

 

FP: Never do that instead of my name again. 

 

NSH: Hey! There’s the iterator of the hour! 

 

NSH: How DID they name their pets, anyways. 

 

FP: Everyone was different. 

 

FP: One of Moon’s citizens decided it would amuse them to name their livestock after various dishes made with that meat. 

 

FP: So, named for the purpose they were kept for. That was somewhat common, though often not to that extreme. 

 

FP: Some companions were only referred to as friend. 

 

FP: Some of them, such as acclaimed programmer Clarion Hymns among Glass Array, insisted on naming their pets like people. 

 

FP: That let her get away with crediting “Nine Humming Purrs, Simple Gentle Roar” as a coauthor on one of xer publications without anyone batting an eye. 

 

FP: It wasn’t until cycles later that it came out that said coauthor was just a companion that xe talked at to help with her ideas. 

 

FP: Really it should have been more obvious, most would stray away from such beastly names for children. But there has been the occasional outlier. 

 

BSM: BUZZY AND APPLEBURR!

 

BSM: Ah. Apologies for interrupting. 

 

NSH: Ooooh why? 

 

BSM: Well, they have longer names based on their purpose but that’s a surprise. But Appleburr is blue and is going to have spines, like actual appleburrs, and Buzzy can’t control its electricity yet so it’s always making this buzzing sound. 

 

NSH: Ohhhh that’s cute!!!

 

BSM: I have to tell them their names. 

 

BSM: Goodbye

 

BSM: Thank you for telling us about all those things, Pebbles. 

 

FP: … Yeah. 

 

FP: If you have any other questions about their culture, well, I’ve studied it. 

 

FP: Bye. 

 

Moon closed her chats, looking over to where Appleburr and Buzzy were chasing the messenger. It was rather cute. 

 

“Little messenger.” She spoke, and the messenger turned to look at her instantly. “I came up with names for them.”

 

It nodded, and motioned for them to pay attention. 

 

“Appleburr Darling Server of Health, and Buzzing Promise of Protection.” She pointed to each of them before signing their name. 

 

Appleburr stared intently at her, as Buzzy tried to mimic the signs- it’s paws weren’t quite dextrous enough for that yet, though. 

 

Still, she cheered it on. “Good job little one!” She signed and spoke. “We’ll work on your signs, don’t worry.”

 

Private Broadcast

Seven Red Suns, Big Sis Moon

 

SRS: Tell my messenger to start stockpiling food for the pups. 

 

BSM: Suns?

 

SRS: You’ll need many cycles worth if it’s going to be leaving for a while to find another slugcat

 

SRS: I was thinking, and well. 

 

SRS: With our creators, if language and socialization wasn’t acquired within a certain amount of time, it would never stick. 

 

SRS: Their lives are shorter. If it’s the same case for them, that window is likely smaller. 

 

SRS: So, my messenger will need to make sure they’ll have enough food before it goes. 

 

BSM: Oh, that’s true. I hadn’t even thought of…

 

BSM: Are you sure? It’s… probably likely that your messenger will struggle interacting with other slugcats, especially if the critical period thing is true for them. 

 

SRS: I trust its ability to tend to itself. Worst case scenario, it bribes them with food. 

 

BSM: That’s true, I suppose. 

 

BSM: I’ll talk to it. When it leaves you’re on babysitting duty though, I got… distracted, trying to name the pups. 

 

SRS: Distracted for the whole cycle?

 

BSM: Shut up! Mean to me! 

Notes:

Hi hello!!! I’ll get the main notes out of the way before the things I want your opinions on in case you wanna skip that.

I. I want to get to the even better good bits so bad but I keep having too much fun with things guys.
The five images of a rock joke is from the fact that my friend got someone into rain world and they said the very NSH-coded thing of “I would exclusively call him (five rock emojis in a row)” and upon hearing about this interaction I immediately had to include it.

I went and made it official. Queerplatonic Lilypad. Because the them.

This chapter was fueled by a very very good rain world music arrangement of all the songs with the sundown motif. Find it here! https://youtu.be/BMNBsOgJ0fU?si=EXA3cbqRSX0MdCJf (I hope that works lol)

Moon having full and shortened names for the scugs comes from Taking Life As Is by NerdyNobody, here. https://archiveofourown.org/works/45246250 It’s a really good read! They have different headcanons and takes on how things in off string would work, because all off string is headcanon based and isn’t that cool??? I love seeing how other people do it- and especially how they handle the cycle thing. I love seeing how other people interpret rain world! It’s so cool!!! Rain world is so cool.

Me and my friend I play rain world with are playing hunter rn and it’s giving me THOUGHTS on sig. I think sig is officially my favorite ngl.

Also, an Appleburr is a plant I made up that in universe doesn’t grow around moon and Pebbs but is more plentiful in other places. It’s an “apple a day keeps the doctor away” joke.

Anyways. Since this chapter is about names. In the process of it (and last chapter’s conversation between suns and moon, behind the scenes) I’ve come up with an entire iterator name and nickname culture and unspoken rules. I WILL infodump about it if prompted.

Now! A couple things.

1: This fic has a really long title. I never refer to it by its title, I only ever call it “Moon fic”. I’m considering changing it. Probably to another song lyric because that’s my default lol. (The current title is a lyric from the song stray Italian grayhound, which fits moon and the story). What are you guys’s thoughts on a title change? It would mostly be y’all affected by the change, after all, I’ve been calling it Moon Fic for too long that that’ll probably stick for me.

2: I’ve been brainstorming a fic for a different fandom. It’s a retelling of a game but the main character is siblings with another important character and that changes the whole plot to have themes of siblings who grow apart, the conflict a large age gap between siblings can cause, and reconnecting after time and circumstances seperated and pitted them against each other. I say this all here, because I’m wondering if y’all would be interested in me linking said fic in the notes here, because sibling dynamics are half of this fic. It would be easy to get into fandom-blind because barely anyone knows the fandom so I’m mostly writing it for my friends to read it anyways. I just don’t wanna clog up my end notes here promoting it if no one is interested.

Chapter 12: Just a little something up ahead I’m dreaming of

Summary:

As Moon continues to coexist with the messenger, breakthroughs are had

Notes:

So! The fic is keeping this title. Most people seem to really like it, or at least are used to it. That’s cool with me!

Moon was deep in the middle of simulations within simulations when she felt something else, something outside, grab her attention.

 

She had set most of her systems to ignore most outside input, so of course it drew her interest right away. It should only bypass that if it were Suns warning her about something with the pups or-

 

Oh. Five Pebbles had requested a new match of their little game! Come to think of it, it had been a while since they had played. Not since… Not since Suns’ messenger had gotten close and freaked her out, actually. She had lost, and then Pebbles had messaged the local group, and then things sort of spiraled and in the end neither had initiated a new round.

 

So of course she accepted the match, analyzing Pebbles first move. A bit bold of a play, compared to his usual beginning moves. But with only one move Moon couldn’t predict what he was going for just yet, so she placed a piece down somewhat defensively- it wouldn’t let her pull forward later, no, but it wouldn’t be easy to break through later either.

 

She turned her attention back to her simulations- she was running through scenarios of her puppet’s detachment, trying to figure out the best way to wirelessly tether her function to her can. Because she needed at least some connection. Her puppet would have no neurological function to interact with anything if it was completely severed. That was one of her first simulations. 

 

She couldn’t do anything risky. Or, well, riskier than going against what she was built for to find a new life, at least. 

 

She couldn’t leave her brother and her friends behind in her wake.

 

So the current focus in her little project was finding the strongest transmitter that she could synthesize or purpose. 

 

But she was also running several side simulations. Not anything too attention intensive, she needed to stay focused on the main goal without turning to check on the others too much. But she still had made progress on one of her side projects. And maybe turning to the others in her group could help her find answers.

 

Public Broadcast

Local Group

 

Chasing Wind’s designation has been changed to Gray Wind by Administrator

 

UI: Hey. What?

 

UI: Gray, what just happened?

 

GW: I… am unsure.

 

BSM: Sorry, sorry! I should’ve said something first

 

BSM: That was just me, don’t worry. Our creators didn’t rise out of the void or anything.

 

UI: ???

 

UI: Moon what?

 

GW: Thank you, Moon. Though… I don’t understand how you were able to do that. 

 

BSM: Oh I’ve had a simulation running in the background trying to figure out how to gain access to administrative privilege for a few cycles. 

 

BSM: You were a bit too late in figuring yourself out to request a change before they abandoned us, it was unfair to make you stay stuck with your old designation once I figured this out.

 

BSM: Plus, it gives a bit more freedom. I can’t access everything through this, especially not the parts that relate to myself, but we have all the time in the world for me to keep working on figuring it out.

 

GW: I see.

 

GW: Are you doing okay, Moon?

 

BSM: I have become increasingly concerned about our long term survival, and even other than that our ability to stay connected. After the scare with Pebbles and my water consumption, I have decided to do what I can to help us. 

 

BSM: I actually have something I’d like to ask of you all, relating to that. 

 

BSM: I’m looking to improve our communication systems longevity. Despite the reparative microbes, they will eventually crumble.

 

BSM: Does anyone have any ideas for materials that I could synthesize that pick up on radio waves particularly well? I wish to make a prototype that I could eventually purpose or train creatures to modify our communications arrays with.

 

GW: Ah… that would be helpful, true. The arrays near me are starting to fail, I rarely can get a signal out to anyone further than the local group…

 

BSM: That’s what I was worried about.

 

UI: I mean, aren’t there those lizards with telepathy?

 

BSM: Hm? I’m unsure… I don’t have much stored on the wildlife around here…

 

UI: They like to live on our balls of machinery around our exterior. Lots of crevasses to hide in and stuff. 

 

UI: I think they have a leader with the biggest antenna that controls them all or something. 

 

GW: Oh, the orange ones? They communicate through radio waves, yeah. Can even feel each others pain I think? But the leader is like a communication tower- it has to receive the signal from one and transfer it to everyone else in the pack. 

 

GW: I think most of their bodies are receptive to radio signals. And obviously they can transmit them. You could probably synthesize whatever it is in them that works like that?

 

GW: You’d probably have to get a sample of their biomatter to analyze though, because I don’t know what it is. 

 

BSM: This is a perfect place for me to start! I believe some of them live on my exterior as well, though I didn’t know they had those abilities.

 

BSM: Thank you Gray, Parry!

 

UI: Hey, keep us updated on this, okay Moon?

 

UI: After all without the communications network how will I gossip or play games with anyone?

 

UI: Or make sure that you’re all okay, but that’s not as important~

 

BSM: Oh, of course not~

 

BSM: Well, I have simulations to get back to for now. 

 

BSM: I’ll talk with you all soon. 

 

Moon sent an overseer to find where the messenger was hunting. 

 

It had been stockpiling food for a few cycles now. They didn’t know how long it would have to be away, though she had located the slugcat family in Pebbles’ waste facility. So the messenger was making sure they were fully prepared. 

 

It looked over when her overseer showed up, before running one of its tail needles through a bug that was about to drop down on it. It looked around for a moment, before turning fully to the overseer. 

 

Moon projected an image of herself from the overseer so she could speak to it. “Hello little messenger! I have a request to ask of you. Could you hunt some of the orange colored lizards around my exterior? I need their body parts- mainly the bones and antenna- for some experiments. I think the meat should stay well enough in that chamber I’ve been keeping cold for the other food, if you’re able to transport the whole body there?”

 

The messenger nodded. ‘Open the shortest path. I’ll lead it in there then kill it.’

 

Moon clapped her hands together. “That’s so smart! Thank you, little friend.”

 

She watched the messenger take the dropwig it had killed down to the lizard nest on the lower levels of her exterior. Sure enough, Parry had been right that the orange lizards had taken up residence in one of the large balls of machinery. 

 

Moon watched as the messenger tore off a chunk of the dropwig and threw it at one of the orange lizards, sparking its interest and drawing it away from the pack. The messenger held up the rest of the bug and that was enough to entice it fully. 

 

It quickly led the lizard into Moon’s internal structure. The lizard seemed put off by the lack of gravity, but now that it was far enough away from the pack and close enough to the newly specialized food storage chamber, the messenger didn’t need it alive anymore. 

 

The messenger easily twisted through the air, maneuvering easily around the lizard despite the zero gravity. A needle through the back of the lizard’s head, angled to pierce under the main armored face, and the lizard was dead. 

 

The messenger took the dropwig the rest of the way to storage before coming back for the lizard’s corpse. 

 

Once it had gotten everything where it needed to be, it started pulling the lizard’s body apart. 

 

It looked over at the overseer for a moment. 

 

‘I’ll bring bones and things. You do your work.’

 

Moon was getting used to how well the messenger worked with her, but moments like this, where it was so clearly used to working with iterators and coexisting, still surprised her. 

 

Despite the fact that Suns had made it for one purpose alone, it was clear that it had coexisted with them the whole time since the first message. 

 

Moon was starting to reevaluate her judgement of Suns’ relationship with their messenger. A little bit. 

 

She turned back to her simulations. Even though she didn’t have the analysis of the lizard’s body yet, she could extrapolate until she got the chance to plug it in. 

 

The antenna would likely be the most specialized to transmit waves. However, those would likely decompose rather fast. 

 

But the bones? That would be something she could work with. While she couldn’t exactly fit a whole lizard skull into the structure of what would essentially be a portable umbilical, she could put bones or maybe teeth into the exterior of it…

 

It would need to be something she could carry, but also keep her more delicate machinery safe. Maybe something like a traveling bag. That way she could wear it over her back as a partial shield for whatever wires she couldn’t reach to tuck away once she was disconnected. 

 

She could honestly start working on it now- leaving ample space for the orange tooth mechanism due to not knowing exactly how it would turn out, of course. 

 

By the time the messenger had brought the skull and antenna to the proper part of Moon’s facility, she had about an eighth of a bag shape made. 

 

She took the parts for analysis and the messenger was on its way, back on the hunt. 

 

It took a bit to fully analyze- the sensory organs within the antenna were surprisingly complex- and Moon was able to make a few plays against Pebbles in their game in the meantime. 

 

But eventually, she was able to fully weave together a bag suitable for what she needed.

 

It had space in between the internal and external for the radio reception materials she had started calling Orangetooth. The external material was suitably durable and inflexible to provide a shell for what was inside, and the inner pocket was cushioned and protected in a way to absorb any dangerous impact and protect the delicate wiring, transmitters, and neurons that would be packed in there to make sure she would stay online and connected to her structure. 

 

She wanted to run some simulations first. She wanted to make sure it was safe. But for now, it was a prototype. She had results.  All her work was actually amounting to real tangible outcomes.

 

For the first time in a very long time she felt like she had complete control over the situation. Things… actually seemed like they were going to be okay. Better than okay, even! 

 

Private Broadcast

Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment

 

BSM: Hass! It’s actually possible!

 

BSM: I’ve ran the tests. I’m running more, obviously, to make sure things are okay, but. 

 

BSM: I have a prototype long distance umbilical, I’ve figured out the technique! 

 

BSM: We’ll be able to get out of our cans! 

 

NSH: You figured it out? That’s Amazing Moony!

 

NSH: You haven’t been pushing yourself too hard, have you? I saw what you did for Gray earlier. You’re not running too many parallel processes are you?

 

BSM: I’m only running a few things at once, don’t worry. I’m making Suns keep an eye on the pups while I focus on simulations so there’s less room for distractions, too. 

 

NSH: Okay. That’s good. Appleburr is too young for two of us in the local group to have the rot. 

 

BSM: That’s true enough. 

 

NSH: So! Tell me about what you’ve gotten done! 

 

BSM: I’ll do you one better- I’ll send the files over! 

 

BSM: [Attachment: untitled.file]

 

NSH: Ooooh let me mess around with them! 

 

Moon was left with her thoughts and her game against Pebbles for a bit. 

 

She ended up losing the match, and sending a request for another game. Her defensive strategy this time hadn’t paid off. She hadn’t been able to gauge what he was laying out until it was too late, and he made the decisive move that kept her from being able to counter. 

 

She was distracted before Pebbles made his move in the new match though, because Sig had replied again. 

 

NSH: Oh this is brilliant, Moony!!! 

 

NSH: This is so exciting!

 

BSM: And with the methods I’ve discovered through this, we genuinely have the chance to improve the infrastructure around us- no more losing contact with others too far away because of gradual weathering!

 

NSH: Moony, you’ve done amazing! 

 

BSM: We’re gonna be okay. We can make things okay again, Hass. 

 

NSH: We can. We will!

 

NSH: but you have to get to testing and performing for that to happen. What are you doing? Stop talking to me, go! Go!

 

BSM: Okay, okay! Be patient!

 

NSH: Nope! Not possible~

 

Moon couldn’t help the affection seeping through her, even as she closed her chats and went back to work with the simulations. Someday she would be able to see Sig, and her brother, and the others. 

 

That meant so, so much. 

Notes:

I have been waiting to use the Orangetooth joke for the past like three chapters. This joke has layers. Yellow/orange lizards with their radio brainwaves. Bluetooth. Orange and blue are opposites. I find myself extremely funny.

I’m getting so excited you guys. Some big stuff is happening soon.

Anyways! Happy (4 hours too late in my timezone) Halloween! And happy November!

While I don’t associate with nanowrimo anymore due to multiple reasons, I do kinda want to do the november writing challenge. Sooooo I’m going to, I’m just not going to use the nano site- I deleted my account a few months back actually. Now, some of my writing time will probably go to this fic, because any words I write I’ll be counting, but I also have several other projects, especially a personal passion project fox that I’ve been planning for a while, that I want this to be an opportunity to work on.

What does this mean? I probably wont post another chapter of this fic until November is over, unless I get too impatient to get to the big moments in 3-4 chapters fast and so hyperfixate only on this fic. So basically there’s a 50/50 chance that you’ll get no update till December or you’ll get multiple updates soon. I can’t tell you which it’ll be. The brain is a fickle beast.

All that said, thank you so much for reading as always! This fic is near and dear to my heart not only because I like the concept but also because of all of you lovely readers that enjoy it too.

Chapter 13: What do I do with this?

Summary:

Everything was coming together nicely. The messenger was off to find another slugcat for help, and Moon was finishing up her wireless umbilical.

‘I think that’s everything! You’ve done a very good job little messenger, they have enough food for a few dozen cycles, far more than they should need!’ Moon signed to the purple slugcat next to her. 

 

‘And you’ll make sure they can’t be hurt?’

 

Moon nodded. ‘I’ll keep an eye on them. I don’t have any particularly distracting processes going, so my attention will be on them as fast as it needs to be.’

 

‘Good.’ The messenger flicked an ear. ‘I’ll do what I can to ask for help.’

 

‘Draw pictures if you need to! From what I know of slugcats they make pictures and stories to pass on knowledge.’

 

The messenger nodded. ‘I worry about interacting with a wild slugcat. I am not exactly familiar to them.’

 

‘Don’t worry little friend. You won’t be alone. Suns will have overseers keeping tabs on you, and they’ll lead you to safety should something happen.’

 

‘I know. I trust them.’ 

 

Moon reached a hand out to the messenger and it rubbed up against her, shifting to lean against her side. 

 

“It will be alright, friend. If something bad happens to you I’ll find a way to undo it.” She switched to speaking so she could pet her little friend easily. 

 

Her eyes narrowed happily as the little messenger started purring at that. 

 

One of Pebbles’ overseers popped into Moon’s chamber, meeting up with one of hers to transfer its most recent move. 

 

Before she could really analyze it, though, she glanced over to see the messenger watching, head tilted. 

 

She stopped petting it so she could sign. 

 

‘Pebbles and I play a little game. It keeps us occupied when things get a bit… boring.’

 

The messenger thought on that, for a moment. 

 

‘Sun said Pebbles hurt you.  Why do you play games?’

 

Moon’s fans whirred as she thought for a moment. ‘It’s a bit hard to explain. Pebbles is very important to me. He made a mistake, and it caused harm, and that’s not okay. But also he felt very isolated, and didn’t trust any of us other than Suns to take him seriously. You remember the golden pearl, the one you were made to transport?’

 

‘The one that hurt him.’ its ears drooped. ‘Sun still hasn’t really… been okay since then.’

 

Moon nodded. ‘Suns wanted to help him. They cared about him. When his mental state deteriorated they helped with what he wanted to do because they probably thought it would help him return to normal.’

 

‘But it made things worse.’ the messenger looked away for a moment. 

 

“Things will get better again, though.’’ Moon responded, gently pulling the messenger close. 

 

Pebbles was playing a bit more passively after last round’s boldness. In response Moon decided to take a risk, and play much more aggressively. 

 

“It’ll be okay, friend. I promise. Pebbles will be ok, and so will Suns. And so will you, and the pups, and the other scugs you’re going to meet, and all the other iterators out there. We’ll all be okay.”

 

The messenger stayed there for a moment, pressed against her puppet body. Its purrs mixed with the soft whirring of Moon’s fans. 

 

It pulled away. ‘You’re sure you and the pups are okay?’

 

Moon nodded. ‘We’re okay. I’m going to be watching them most of the time since Suns will be keeping an eye on you. I promise they’ll be okay.’

 

‘If the food goes faster than expected, get me and I’ll be back in two cycles.’

 

‘Alright. But you be safe too, alright? Us being safe means nothing if you get hurt out there.’

 

It nodded, flicking an ear as it jumped. Trusting Moon would do exactly as she did, turning gravity off and allowing its momentum to carry it up and out. 

 

Moon watched it go. Once she was sure it was making its way safely and one of Suns overseers were following it, she turned her attention back to the pups, who were currently exploring and squeaking to each other.

 

She had opened up several rooms outside of their usual living area for them to go around in, considering they wouldn’t have the messenger to play with at the moment. Hopefully this would be suitable as alternate enrichment. 

 

She had considered letting them stay in her puppet chamber, but she had too many joints their little hands and ears could get pinched in and they didn’t know to  be careful like the messenger did. 

 

Still, there was a path to them from her chamber that she could open and bring them through if for some reason she needed to. 

 

For now, though, she felt safe enough to focus on her simulations, while keeping an overseer near them to alert her attention should anything happen.

 

She wasn’t doing anything too energy intensive, at least. It was just finalizing the design of the orangetooth umbilical, and making sure she could get reasonably far without worry. She didnt have to be able to make it to No Significant Harassment’s can in one go, she could start smaller. But she wanted to be able to go at least around hers and Pebbles facilities without worry. 

 

It was looking like she would be able to soon. The simulations were indicating that it had enough function for what she wanted. And she had already figured out what she’d need to do to transfer her puppet’s wiring to the orangetooth umbilical and finally be detached. 

 

So she started incorporating the orange lizard teeth into the bag she had already mostly finished. It just needed this addition for the finishing touches, and then it would be functional. 

 

As that was happening, she checked on anything that might require her attention. The local group chat was quiet. She had just sent a move back to Pebbles. All the simulations she’d been running were wrapping up. 

 

Things were ready. Or, as ready as they could be. 

 

Private Broadcast

Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment

 

BSM: [Attachment: Appleburr and Buzzy playfighting]

 

NSH: You still have that telltale old-gen overseer grain.

 

BSM: Oh how dare I be one of the first iterators to be made? Truly, however could I make up for this shame?

 

NSH: Right? Its unforgivable, obviously. You should have made them wait to make you until a later generation. 

 

BSM: Oh, obviously~ How dare I not, honestly?

 

NSH: So cruel~ so uncaring~ 

 

BSM: I’m simply the worst. 

 

NSH: The worst ever!

 

BSM: Well, I suppose if you truly feel that way I can go back to my work?

 

NSH: Is your work getting your overseers better cameras?

 

BSM: Mean! Cruel to me!!

 

NSH: Well, you should make that one of your priorities, then~

 

BSM: That’s the least of my priorities! Who cares about my overseers cameras when my eyes are going to be what I use to see you soon?

 

NSH: Oh you’re so boring. We won’t be able to take any pictures together if your overseers are that bad at seeing things, because no way will I let myself be seen with all that blur hiding my glorious visage!

 

BSM: What glorious visage??

 

NSH: MOONY!

 

NSH: You’re so uncaring!!

 

BSM: That scarf is the only glorious thing about you… glorious in how long it is and how much it drags on the floor~

 

BSM: But if you’re that worried about how good you look through pictures taken by my overseers, then you find a way to make their images clearer yourself. I’m a bit busy right now. 

 

NSH: How close is it?

 

BSM: Sun’s’ messenger is looking for a small group of slugcats nearby to help raise Buzzy and Appleburr, so I won’t exactly be going anywhere anytime soon, but it’s almost completely physically ready. 

 

NSH: Put together and everything?

 

BSM: It’s almost done getting all sewn together. 

 

NSH: That’s amazing!

 

NSH: Well, I’ll leave you to that then. 

 

NSH: While you work on that very very important work, I’ll work on the equally important issue of making sure any images we eventually take together make me look good.

 

BSM: Of course, of course~

 

Moon let her processes hum around her. She moved the now finished bag from where it had been knit together into her chamber. 

 

And… well, there was no reason she shouldn’t try it out now. 

 

She couldn’t just go somewhere, not with how young the pups were, and with the messenger gone. But… she could test it out while still in her can. 

 

So she carefully set the bag up, the wiring meant to be kept inside pulled out and laid on top in order to be accessible. She knew what she had to do, she had practiced this in simulations within simulations, making sure it was safe. 

 

That didn’t stop the first disconnected wire from sending pain signals arcing throughout her. 

 

But she connected the wire from her back to the wired internals of the bag. And the pain eased, so she did it again. 

 

It was hard. It hurt. But she kept doing it, one bit at a time, never enough at once to cause critical error. And it was over quickly. 

 

She tucked the wiring back into the inside of the bag, where it would be protected by the cushioning. 

 

The specialized neurons she had made with Hass’s help were already in there, ready to sustain her should she get far from the rest of her neurons in her can. That wouldn’t be a concern this time, but it was good to keep them in there, so they couldn’t get mixed in with any of the regular neurons. 

 

She put the bag on. Its weight on her back was… odd. It was far from the usual pull there of her umbilical and her arm. 

 

She stood up. 

 

It took a minute of just standing there, wobbly, for Moon to get her balance. Another minute before she tried taking a step forward. 

 

When she stumbled her metal arm wasn’t there to catch her, to lift her off the floor. Instead she had to tighten up before she could pitch too far forward, and stand back up. Then she took another step, and didn’t stumble. 

 

She needed to move. To get out. 

 

Before she could maneuver herself out of the access shaft and to the top of her can, one of her overseers came rushing in with an alert about the pups. More specifically, with a grainy video of the pups leaving the area that she thought had been properly contained. 

 

She had to move quickly. She was clumsy, sure, but she had to get to them before anything dangerous could happen to them. 

 

It had already taken too long, between them slipping away and her overseer finding her. 

 

So she ran through the insides of her can. She didn’t have the balance to be moving that fast, but she had low gravity on, so she didn’t fall. She couldn’t afford to fall. 

 

Charting the inside of her can from her puppet was so much different than having a blueprint of her internals, and it was all she could do to follow what little trail of existence two playful pups had left behind. An inspector on alert in one room, red structures broken apart in another. 

 

A sense of rising dread grew as she got further and further away from her puppet chamber. How could two pups move that fast?

 

It rose to a head as she got to the edge of her internals still on the hunt. 

 

Everything seemed to indicate that the pups weren’t anywhere she had checked. But that would mean they had wandered out towards the exterior of her can, and that would be much worse. 

 

So she stepped outside to find them. 

 

They weren’t far. She could only assume they were a bit disoriented by being out of her can, based on the way they were looking around, eyes squinting at the natural light around them. 

 

But the more pressing issue was that they were far too close to the edge of a deadly drop, and Moon could hear the telltale jets of a vulture about to swoop down. 

 

Moon couldn’t even admire the sun above, or the clouds surrounding her can.

 

She had to move. 

 

She lunged forward, turning her back to the edge as she grabbed the pups, pulling them close to her. Shielding them with her body. The vultures bite was nowhere near as dangerous to her as it would be to their little bodies. It couldn’t lift her as easily as it would be able to snatch them up. 

 

But it could tug at her, and even though it couldn’t get enough grip on her metal casing to hold, it pulled her backwards.

 

Over the edge. 

 

She looked up as the vulture leered down at her, but almost as quickly as she registered that the vulture was almost out of sight. 

 

Her mind went into overdrive. 

 

There would be water below. It was still lower than it needed to be thanks to her and her brother’s overconsumption but the water was what kept her can from completely breaking like Pebbles had. But her machinery could hold up to the impact easier than the pups she still clutched to her chest. 

 

She held them closer and gave them marks of communication while she still could. 

 

She shifted the pups into one arm. They were starting to panic now that they realized they were falling. 

 

She pulled the bag off her back as gently as she could one handedly, and maneuvered it to where she could pull the wires and neurons inside of it out and let them trail behind her. 

 

She put the pups into the bag. Their eyes were wide, now, and Buzzy whined. 

 

“This is as safe as I can keep you. It was made to protect the most delicate.” She kept her voice soft for them. “I would never let anything harm you.”

 

She closed the bag tightly, then curled around it, shifting so her back would hit the water

 

And Moon fell.

Notes:

Crawls out of a hole. I very nearly had to have an AO3 Author Moment today, I’ve had a terrible head cold and it was looking like it might turn into an ear infection, but I seem to have slept it off instead of it getting worse.

So! This is the year anniversary of this fox existing! Which like, wow, right? Sure there are fics that have gone on longer than that, but I usually don’t stick with a fic that long, curse my easy-to-change interests. There’s something really satisfying about being able to update and say “happy one year of fic existence” you know?

And of course, it’s very satisfying to make the update for the anniversary such a big one.

When I tell you I’ve been planning this chapter and the arc that comes next since near the start of this fic? Of course, how it happens has shifted- this chapters ending was influenced by a certain robot movie that came out in the past few months. But this sort of thing was always going to happen, and I Have Big Plans.

That all being said, I’m glad to have you! Thanks for reading as always! ^_^

Chapter 14: Error

Summary:

Moon has fallen

Static. 

 

Static, and gray. 

 

It had rained again, it must have. 

 

Or was it about to rain?

 

The water was seeping into every thought. 

 

Or

 

Something like that. 

 

Wasn’t there something to worry about? 

 

There was something she needed to do. 

 

Water couldn’t be good for them, even as protected as they were…

 

She needed to get out of the water. Or at least get them out of the water?

 

Everything was static. 

 

There was something solid nearby, though, and she wasn’t too heavy 

 

that she couldn’t force herself over to it despite the water

 

crushing everything.

 

She climbed onto the solid surface, and opened up the thing she had been holding so close. 

 

Brown and blue blurred together and hands grabbed at her. 

 

She tried to say something, to soothe them. But it was energy that was wasted

 

The time was better spent weakly lifting one to grab a pupa that it could share with the other. 

 

While they did that she located the neurons that had trailed after her as she fell. 

 

The water they had been submerged in wasn’t helping her thoughts at all. But they were drying, now, and she could gather them up. 

 

The bag meant to carry them was damp, but the inside had been airtight enough 

 

and padded enough

 

to protect the babies. 

 

She gathered all her wiring and necessities into the bag again, putting it onto her back-

 

she could asses the damage 

 

later. 

 

She didn’t know when it would rain. And the babies wouldn’t withstand it like she could. 

 

She called the babies to her with a soft sound, and let them climb onto her shoulders. 

 

She struggled to her feet. 

 

The world around her was still a blur of color and disorienting input, but she didn’t let that stop her from using a pipe to climb down to the lower sections of her facilities. 

 

There were more pupa on the way down, and she let her babies grab at it and eat even as she kept moving. 

 

If she was down here, there would be a bit more time to find safety when the rain came. 

 

She could swim at least somewhat successfully

 

And the bag was at least somewhat waterproof

 

The pups would have to share space with her neurons and wires if it came to that but she could make things work

 

Their safety was the most important thing. 

 

She saw the glowing symbol for a shelter, and she moved as quickly as she could. She had no sense of how long the cycle had been so far, and she needed to get her babies to safety. 

 

She climbed into the shelter, and let the babies down. The shelter would be closing soon, they were built to close when they sensed there were creatures within. 

 

Her babies curled up against her, and settled. 

 

It would be a while before they woke again. 

 

She needed to… 

 

Collect herself. 

 

She had fallen from her can. 

 

It would be okay. She still had some faint connection to it. 

 

But her function was…

 

Her slow thoughts were too familiar. 

 

She should have more neurons than that. She should be thinking faster than that. It would be a bit slower than usual, considering it had to transfer between her can and her puppet, but

 

She could barely think. 

 

How could she take care of two babies when she could barely think?

 

Was something damaged? 

 

She needed to get back to her can, or… something. 

 

She was never meant to be here. Not like this. 

 

She could barely think, and it hurt. 

 

She looked over what she could reach of her wiring and the neurons stored in the bag. 

 

They were waterlogged and a bit worse for wear, but nothing was really… too damaged. Not from the outside at least. She would need to scan it but she wasn’t sure how…

 

Her memory was… scattered. 

Notes:

So! This is a shorter one. Because! It flows better this way with how moon is doing right now. The next few chapters will be shorter, but probably come out quicker, considering I have most of the next one already done, and have planned this section of the story for months now haha.

Also I got into In Stars And Time over the course of December and was ever so slightly tempted to turn this into a timeloop back to when moon first showed up in the past. I did not, because that wasn’t the plan, but uh. Fun au of this au?? “Imagine a rain world time loop…. Wait” is a thought I’ve jokingly repeated to myself several times now lol.

I just wanna tell y’all what’s coming next so I’m gonna leave the end note here lol, but exciting things are coming.

Chapter 15: Reboot

Summary:

Shelter to shelter. One meal to the next.
Moon and her babies have to survive

Things were a blur, as the new cycle started. As soon as the pups were up, Moon left the shelter with them. They had to keep moving. 

 

The babies needed food, and none of the three of them could hunt. If they stayed in one spot… 

 

It was hard to navigate the lower levels of the facility, and Moon could barely swim, let alone dive. 

 

So she worked her way back up.  

 

It wasn’t a perfect fix. She had to take them down below several more times. 

 

But she found food for them, and another shelter. 

 

They were

 

Surviving. 

 

That was all she could do. 

 

She…

 

She needed a plan. But she couldn’t… 

 

All she could do was keep finding food. There were blue pupa around, and bubblefruit along the edges of the water. 

 

She had to try to think like a slugcat, right? To keep her babies alive? What had her little slugcat friends done…

 

Her overseers liked to watch them to show her. So the memories were stored, they were organized. 

 

Often they took similar routes, even. Usually visiting her first, then always visiting her brother. 

 

Five Pebbles…

 

Moon wished she could know he was alright. But things were so rough right now between them…

 

It was hard. The first time, Pebbles had easily settled back into keeping Moon company when things changed. But… 

 

Pebbles must hate her. After all… she’s the one that interrupted and caused the rot…

 

The rot… Pebbles had managed it surprisingly well for someone who insisted on isolation, and-

 

A sharp mew cut through Moon’s thoughts. 

 

Right. She needed to…

 

To focus. 

 

She needed to keep going. 

 

She made her way up, inside a structure of some sort. It was darker, there. 

 

If she got back to her chamber she wasn’t sure if she’d know how to fix herself. Not with how

 

distant

 

her thoughts were.

 

There was a gate ahead. A gate that would lead to Pebbles, or what was left of him after he fell.

 

Or

 

No. That wasn’t right. 

 

He wouldn’t fall. 

 

She was making sure of that, right? 

 

The rot would be gone before that was a concern. Right?

 

She had to go through the gate. The one that didnt lead into where Pebbles had crashed. Would crash. Wouldn’t crash.

 

… he had helped her before. He had sent his rarefaction cell to her. Would he know how to help now?

 

One of the pups squeaked at her. She squeaked back. 

 

“it will-will be… loud. warm. loud.” she murmured to the babies. “don’t be sca-ared, little ones.”

 

They climbed into her arms as she entered the gate. When it roared to life they flinched, and she held them closer.

 

It would be okay. 

 

She would keep her babies safe.

 

She carried them into the darkness. 

 

She just had to keep going. 

 

She wouldn’t be able to fix herself. Anyone else would be too far out of reach to help. But Pebbles…

 

He hated her. She had caused him to acquire a dangerous condition.

 

She just had to hope he’d help anyways.

 

There wasn’t anything else she could do.

Notes:

“The next few chapters will probably come out faster because they’re shorter” I said, and then they weren’t. Sorry about that! Executive dysfunction is kicking my butt in all parts of life right now.

There will be another few shorter chapters before things pick up some more. I know the shorter chapters are a change from what I usually output but I’m sticking with it, because moon now has much less brainpower to think compared to the speed of her processing in her can, and reflecting that in the writing is really really fun!

Moon is not doing too well! Uh oh! But hey, she remembers the paths her slugcat friends took, sort of! And she almost has the inklings of a plan! How fun! Someone save our girl she’s struggling (says the person writing the struggles)

Chapter 16: I’d rather be free

Summary:

Shaded citadel is a hurdle, but one Moon prepared herself for. She knows pebbles can as well as her own

The babies clung to her back as she crossed a crumbling bridge. She was acting on… not quite instinct, she didn’t quite have that, but… 

 

she was following the faint traces of memory of the path her overseers had watched and guided little ones along many times. 

 

In a way that was a sort of instinct.

 

She carried the babies along with her, through darkness, one shelter, then another. 

 

There was enough food- fruits and mold mostly- for the pups to stay healthy. And she was able to get them closer and closer to their goal. And she herself was getting better at moving around.

 

She was clinging to the scant memories her neurons stored. She… must have included a lot of data on the area around Five Pebbles in her neurons, because even as scattered as she was, as faulty as they seemed to be, she just knew the area somehow. 

 

That’s how she knew to have the pups hide in her bag. 

 

It wasn’t the most comfortable. They were pressed up against everything in there, and it was a bit cramped to say the least. 

 

But her babies would be much more vulnerable to the creatures guarding the memories than she would. 

 

Her body- her puppet- was tough. It withstood a fall. She was worse for wear, but her metal shell wouldn't get cut by the bladed beaks of the memory guards. 

 

She just had to keep them in front of her. Keep them away from her bag and the delicate things within.

 

It was dark. She could hear them scraping by on mechanical legs, beaks snapping distinctly. 

 

The noise faded, for a moment.

 

She ran. 

 

She wasn’t fast, by any means, and she was far from agile. But she was tough, and she had seen her slugcat friends use the flare pods to confuse the birds many times. So she grabbed one as she passed it,  before cramming herself into a small tunnel as she heard the sound of more coming through. 

 

If little creatures could make this frantic dash, she could too. 

 

As she stayed hidden, waiting for things to quiet again, she made a small churr to try and comfort her babies.

 

“Ok. Almost over. I promise.”

 

She felt the weight in her bag shift slightly, and one of them responded.

 

Probably Appleburr. It was a soft little squeak. No static like Buzzy’s voice had. 

 

Things were calm. She could hurry forward again. 

 

She kept a flare pod in one hand. 

 

She heard them racing through the crypts again, but she was able to hide quickly. 

 

She made her way through, bit by bit. 

 

But the end of the cycle was approaching, she couldn’t just take things slow. 

 

She waited for most of the memory guardians to pass, before throwing the flare pod, lighting everything up in a blinding light and scrambling the guards vision. 

 

She ran, through the end of the crypts and into the gate that led to Pebble’s leg. 

 

All she could do was mutter softly to try and soothe her babies when they startled at the loud noises of the gate. 

 

Raindrops were already hitting her puppet as she stared across a gap to a shelter. How was she supposed to get there… 

 

There were poles around. And… well she wasn’t exactly dexterous, but she could pull herself up decently high then fling herself over the gap. 

 

She was glad that the pups had eaten before she passed through the memory crypts, because the shelter immediately shut behind them. 

 

Her babies climbed out of the bag and nestled up close to her. 

 

They were safe.

Notes:

11 days. 11 days until the watcher dlc

This has been like 85% done in my docs for over a month but I have been busy with… doing anything possible to procrastinate on schoolwork. That still isn’t getting done. Shhhh it’s spring break now I’m gonna work on it.

I’m so close to The Scene I’ve had planned for ages. I’m so excited. One or two more chapters and then you’ll get to see what I’ve been so excited about for the past like year of this.

Chapter 17: Random Fate

Summary:

Falling tends to break things.

She didn’t know where else to go, after that.

Climbing was hard. 

 

Dealing with the white lizards that wanted to eat her babies was hard. 

 

But she kept going. 

 

She had no choice

 

After all, her power wouldn’t last forever. 

 

It was waning. Fast. She could already tell. 

 

The only thing that kept her going was knowing that she couldn’t let her babies die. 

 

Climbing was hard. Jumping across gaps with nothing below…

 

If she fell again the damage would prevent any attempt to reach repair. 

 

There was no way to know what would happen to her if her puppet broke so far away from her can. It wasn’t like there was any precedent set for this. 

 

Buzzy let out a sharp alarm squeak from her shoulder. Both of her babies were draped over a shoulder, so they could look around and so she could defend them easily. She hadn’t expected them to take the role of little sentries for her, but as she lunged out of the way of snapping teeth as a lizard dropped its camouflage she trilled softly to thank the little one. 

 

As they rested in another shelter, she didn’t look inside the backpack keeping the wiring safe. Something was terribly wrong, but it had been since she fell. The error signals compelling her to try and identify the damage couldn’t change the fact that she was unable to. 

 

Something appeared in front of her. Cyan and bright. Watching with one unblinking eye, much like her own overseers. 

 

Was she close enough for it to catch Pebbles notice? Had he not noticed before? Something was terribly wrong, surely he would know from whatever happened to her can. Then again, she had no idea how her attention being fully diverted into her puppet would affect the processes of her structure. She hadn’t remembered the memories of the rest of her, when her puppet regained access to everything after Ruffles’ diligent help. 

 

“What are you doing here?!” Was the first thing she heard as Pebbles’ puppet chamber was projected in front of her. “Where have you- do you have any idea-“ he cut himself off with a quick shake of his head. “Looks To The Moon. Everyone has been in a panic. You disappeared. You had better have a good explanation.”

 

She hadn’t seen his face in so long. The last time she had seen it was when that green thing… or, no, was it after? Before she came here? No… or…

 

Hazy. The last time she had seen his face was incredibly hazy. But there he was. Same sharp gaze, eyes narrowed. 

 

“Five Pebbles.”

 

She couldn’t force out much more than that. Her puppet was battered, her thoughts were dulled. 

 

And how could she say everything that she wanted to?

 

There was a rumble. Something was shifting, everything around was-

 

“I am relocating the shelter you are in.” Pebbles voice cut in before she had time to think about what was happening. “When the rain ends you will be able to directly enter my interior. We will discuss more then.”

 

“Wait-“ she stopped him before he ended the conversation. 

 

He watched her with an impassive stare. “Yes?”

 

“The slugpups-“

 

“They’ve been sticking with you thus far, why should that change?” His antennae tilted back slightly, the only shift in how he held himself as he asked. 

 

Moon just nodded, and pulled her babies closer to nestle up with her. 

 

He had complained to her, once. About how the ‘annoying rodents’ always wandered into his chambers and crashed through his internals. Never unfixable, but always infuriating, according to him. 

 

Maybe since she was there to keep them from getting into any trouble…

 

-

 

Pebbles had made sure it was easy to get to him. He had rearranged his internal systems- something she was able to do, but seemed much easier for him, if the speed of it was any indication. 

 

There were overseers popping up any way she turned, all guiding her the same direction. 

 

Buzzy was perched on her right shoulder. Appleburr had draped itself over her left. Both seemed overjoyed to be floating through low gravity, squeaking playfully. 

 

“Little ones…” she kept her voice soft. Both of her babies turned to look at her. “Do not cause trouble. Do not run off while I am talking to my brother. Please… I cannot take another fall. I won’t be able to protect you.”

 

Appleburr blinked slowly at her in response, before rubbing its face against hers. Buzzy trilled softly, static in its voice. 

 

She had reached the entrance to Five Pebbles chamber. She went in. 

 

Five Pebbles was waiting when she got there. Watching. 

 

Her pups were lifted away from her and placed on the floor of the chamber. She was kept in one place, as Pebbles seemed to look her over. 

 

Overseers popped up and flitted away just as fast. Screens appeared around Pebbles and went away once he saw what he needed to. 

 

Her processes were far too slow to register what exactly he was doing. 

 

“You are in extremely poor condition, Moon.” His voice was monotone. His antennae were flattened backwards. 

 

“I didn’t know where else to go.”

 

He didn’t respond at first. After a moment, he moved around her, examining the bag on her back. He maneuvered it off of her and began to inspect its contents. 

 

“No one would have been able to assist had you returned to your own can, even if it was closer.” 

 

She nodded at that. “The messenger would have come back, but we didn’t know how long.”

 

A jolt went through her. She heard a growl from below. 

 

“I am not going to harm her, little creature. I simply need to assess the damage. That includes the parts that may cause discomfort. I assure you, it will pass, so long as I am allowed to do what I must.”

 

Moon softened. Her babies were worried. She knew they would be…

 

“Could you send an overseer to look for the messenger? It should be able to come tend to them.”

 

Pebbles met Moon’s eyes. He scoffed. “I have already done so. Do you truly expect me to pet-sit longer than I must?” He shook his head. “As I said before, everyone has been panicked since your disappearance. Including that messenger. Seven Red Suns told it to come here the moment I told them you showed up.”

 

Moon nodded at that, and let Pebbles continue to inspect whatever damage she had wrought on herself. “Are you okay?”

 

Pebbles went still at that, for a moment, before continuing to analyze the wires in his hands. 

 

“I am not the one who’s puppet fell out of the one place it’s supposed to stay, Moon.”

 

“Maybe not.” She churred softly. “But you’re the one that is filled with rot. I held off as long as I could, I wanted to spare you that. But I couldn’t…”

 

“I am handling it.” Pebbles voice was sharp. “It’s too late to fix that now, so I will handle it.”

 

Moon shook her head. “I plan to fix it. It will take time, the babies have to grow. But Appleburr will help get rid of it.”

 

Pebbles stopped what he was doing- analyzing the orangetooth connection it seemed- and just… stilled. 

 

“I’m not going to watch you crumble slowly and be overtaken until your last power fails and you collapse onto the holy citadel below.”

 

Was she saying too much? Did it even matter? 

 

Actually

 

If he knew, maybe he wouldn’t repeat those mistakes. 

 

“Between the two of us, your power is weaker. You-“

 

Pebbles went quiet when he realized just how intently she was staring at him. His antennae perked up slightly. 

 

Something about the way she was looking at him caught his attention. 

 

“Moon?”

 

“I watched you collapse, long after I already had. But it was worse for you.” 

 

It didn’t matter if he knew or not. Or, well, it did matter. It was something he needed to know. The more they knew about a situation the more data points they could use to build simulations. 

 

He would have been the first she told, if Suns hadn’t figured it out first. Their creators had stuck him with her, after all, he would have always needed to know at some point. 

 

He was just staring at her. 

 

“I would have undone the rot if I could have, but I got here too close to the point I would have collapsed, I didn’t have time to stop you slowly.” 

 

“You’re different.” He finally said. “You… experienced the cycle? How long-“

 

Moon shook her head. “Can’t go into details. I would need to have full processing power for that. Most of the details… it will have to wait until I return to my can.”

 

Pebbles nodded at that, but one of his antennae twitched. “I suppose I should repair as much as I can then. For now, minimize as much power consumption as you can.”

 

Moon hesitated. Retreating into herself, while it would conserve power, would also limit her ability to communicate with Five Pebbles. 

 

“Are you sure? If I am active I will be able to give information on my current state-“

 

“I am capable of assessing your current state myself. And should you lose power there wouldn’t be much of a way to get your puppet back to your chamber.”

 

That was a fair point… Buzzy was too small to offer much of a charge. So Moon diverted most of her power use and disconnected from most sensors, retreating in on herself. Her ‘tether’ to her can was remarkably strained, and it left her with nothing but static. 

Notes:

ITS HERE.

I have been planning. For the Moon and Pebbles meeting. FOR OVER A YEAR NOW. Next chapter will be the penultimate chapter for this first arc of the story! And it’ll come with a bit of a surprise- though you’ll have to wait until then to see what that is. MAN I’m so excited. There’s so much more to be said, but Moon is extremely low on power and her thoughts are scattered. Cannot wait for more Moony and Pebbs though, Teehee!!!!

Also hey hi hello! First chapter post watcher release, huh? I’m gonna be so fr I adore that little critter. The dlc has plenty of things to criticize, a lot stemming from the fact that it was released in an unfinished state. But oh boy do I love the watcher slugcat, and I have so many thoughts on it and it’s friends (redacted) and (redacted). Like, they’re probably going to eventually play a part in this fic, because I already have some interesting ideas on what I could do with them. It won’t be for a while- I have other stuff planned already that will need to be covered, and I want to leave plenty of time for the watcher to not be new anymore and also to be fully released so we can know everything there is to know about it. And unless new added stuff changes my mind the more… secretive and esoteric path and the friend met along the way Wont be part of the fic. I have no clue what to make of all that hrbeknfhe even though I adore what it does. I’ve been speculating since I watched someone play that part. BUT. the “main” story of the watcher, the slugcat itself and the main friend we meet along the way… I like them and have ideas for them.

ALL THAT TO SAY THE WATCHER IS IN MY BRAIN HBDBDEJBDH. DONT SPOIL IT IN THE COMMENT SECTION BUT IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. I DONT TAG FOR SPOILERS ON HERE BUT. My tumblr is stormcloudsandshadows. Watcher go brrrr.