Starless Sky- Chapter 2 WIP/Preview
I really wanted to post a -finished- update of this fic a few days ago, but the writing gods chose not to smile upon me. This is very much unrefined (missing bits; maybe bits I'll cut/move to a different chapter), but I smooshed it together into a little preview-snack that is hopefully enjoyable. I'm leaning towards making this chapter from Mangey's perspective in the final version, so enjoy the sneak peek into Nine's thoughts for now.
Once they reached the safety of Nine’s underground base, he finally exited survival mode. And with it, all his calmness evaporated. The reality of Mangey’s situation could fully sink back in- how he had trapped him in another treeless hellscape. Doomed him from returning home unless he could perform some kind of miracle.
“I’m sorry, Mangey. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” Nine sank to the ground, head in his hands.
Mangey’s ears flew up in alarm, his inspection of Nine’s abode immediately abandoned for typing furiously on his phone. “{It’s ikay it was and accident it’s okay!}” He wrapped his arms around Nine’s shoulders and pulled him close as soon as he played the message.
Nine stopped blubbering, going still and seeming to calm somewhat as Mangey pet his back. It was quiet for a few moments while Mangey just held him, giving him time to recover.
Nine let out a massive breath and backed away. “Y-You’re right. It was an accident. Sorry I freaked out.”
“{It’s okay.}” Mangey gave him a relieved smile.
“But are you okay, though?” Nine
Mangey examined the floor for a moment before replying. “{I just wasn’t expecting this. I’ll be fine. As long as we’re together, I’ll be fine.}” Mangey gave him a fond look that made Nine’s heart flip.
“Good,” Nine looked away shyly. “Good. Um…” Nine tried to think of what people normally did when they had a friend over for the first time.
“{Your house is sort of like a cave. That’s cool.}” Mangey was incredibly generous with his compliment.
“Oh, yeah, I guess kind of? Since it’s underground.”
“So,” Nine swung his arms by his sides idly before pointing to the workbench area littered with tools, monitors, and the like. “My workplace, basically. I build all kinds of things here.”
Mangey clambered over to examine the space, his eyes lit up with wonder. He got excited over every little thing, and- with Nine’s nods of permission- was allowed to touch all of it! He was very impressed with the sheer amount of stuff in such a small space. From the pegboard that displayed his larger (mostly scavenged) tools, to the toolboxes and drawers loaded with all sorts of things, to the empty peanut butter jars full of nuts, bolts, and other tiny components. Mangey was peppering off bits of excited sign language here and there, but Nine could only guess what he was saying since he still hadn’t learned much of it. By the end of Mangey rifling through his tools, the repeated use of “{What’s this?}” crossed that off the list of phrases to learn.
“{Wow, this is all so amazing! I can’t believe this is where you built your original metal tails. So cool! I’m getting goosebumps!}” Mangey let out his signature scratchy giggle as he geeked out like a fangirl.
Mangey’s bubbly enthusiasm was contagious and took the weary edge off of Nine. He finally started to relax as he continued showing him around. The rest of the ground area was really just a glorified garage, holding a bunch of spare parts he collected over the years. Just in case they might be useful for a project later.
Nine stopped in front of his chalkboard, examining its contents a bit before swiping them away. He picked up a piece of chalk and drew a quick doodle of a gear. “My chalkboard. You can mess around with it if you want.”
Mangey drew a few quick lines to test the chalk, looking excited to take Nine up on that offer. Nine watched with great amusement as Mangey scribbled all sorts of random doodles.
Nine switched over to the essentials, showing him the fridge. Nine was grateful he didn’t have anything that went bad during his time in captivity. Nothing other than the ancient condiment bottles that were past their due date before he even left. Because they were fiiiine; that stuff lasted forever. Nine offered Mangey a juice box as they continued the tour.
“Wheeew!” Mangey looked at the little box with wild eyes after taking his first sip.
Mangey shook his head, but went in for another long sip, which was followed by another funny noise and bugged out eyes.
Nine snorted. “So you do like it?”
Mangey nodded and sucked the rest of it down.
“Pfft, so anyway, the bathroom’s back here,” Nine let Mangey peek in to see the layout real quick.
“And, well. My bed’s up there,” Nine pointed to the loft, not really feeling like showing off that space. It occurred to him that there wasn’t anywhere for Mangey to sleep. Other than the bed, every surface was metal. The only thing that came even close to soft was the berber carpet remnant around his bed. And that basically amounted to nothing since it was right on top of a concrete floor.
