#astrophager

[tooth--ache]

//////////// 𝙵𝚃𝙻 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙿𝙻𝙴𝚃𝙴 //////////// 𝚁𝚄𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙳𝙸𝙰𝙶𝙽𝙾𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙲𝚂 //////////// 𝙿𝙾𝚆𝙴𝚁 𝙻𝙾𝚆. 𝙰𝚄𝚇𝙸𝙻𝙸𝙰𝚁𝚈 𝙿𝙾𝚆𝙴𝚁 𝙾𝙽𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴. 𝙳𝙴𝙿𝙻𝙾𝚈𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙾𝙻𝙰𝚁𝚂.

The Cormorant's solar sails began to unfurl, each triangular-shaped panels blooming open like flowers on a fresh summer morning, reflecting the heat of the star in the new system Howard had found himself within. Moppy strolled in with a hot thermos of tea for him and settled in the pilot seat once again, its glossy grey eyes gleaming dimly with a hundred different interfaces of the ship within its peripheral vision.

//////////// 𝙰𝙽𝙳𝚁𝙾𝙸𝙳 𝙿𝙸𝙻𝙾𝚃 : 𝙼𝟶𝙿𝙿-𝟽 𝙾𝙽𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴.

"Weird."

Howard tilted his head to the side. "What's weird?"

Moppy's perpetual grin now dropped into a guarded look. It began to twirl its hair anxiously, before lowering its hands and extending its fingers out to pull more holoscreens to surround itself with.

Red dots began to pockmark the bridge.

"We went through the tear bridge just fine, but-- something's not quite right. The surrounding galaxies are… dim."

"Are you sure it's not just the scanners working on eco mode right now?" Howard gestured with an index finger, pulling a holoscreen towards him. He summoned the flight map from before the jump and after the jump, putting them side by side, before overlaying them on top of one another. "Data error caused by our jump? Broken equipment?"

"Unsure." Moppy dismissed the map and began to steer the Cormorant closer to the burning star to harvest more of its light. Its eyes narrowed at the burning ball of fire. "Cormorant is built to resist Gyllcynei Bridge's level of extreme radiation, but only just so. I will run further diagnostics---"

Something metallic groaned, and before Howard or Moppy could react, the aft starboard of their ship began to shake and explode. Moppy immediately sealed all airlocks shut and jettisoned the now-burning cargo hold, just before both of them were thrown violently against the bridge's viewport.

//////////// 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝚃. 𝙲𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙰𝙻 𝚂𝚃𝚁𝚄𝙲𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙰𝙻 𝙳𝙰𝙼𝙰𝙶𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝚃𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳 //////////// 𝙲𝙼𝙳𝚁 𝙸𝙽𝙲𝙰𝙿𝙰𝙲𝙸𝚃𝙰𝚃𝙴𝙳. 𝚂𝙴𝙽𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙴𝙼𝙴𝚁𝙶𝙴𝙽𝙲𝚈 𝚂𝙸𝙶𝙽𝙰𝙻.

... --- ...

... --- ...

... --- ...

@astrophager

[croftborn]

he doesn't even know her first name ... ' think it's too late to change the suits' colour ? yellow washes me out. '

endless edits of lara croft: 1/? — hail mary's security officer: lara croft. ft. @astrophager ⋆ ⭒˚ ♡.

[rememburing]

@astrophager: “That sounds so stupid, it might be true.”

Not a super promising response. Sardyne did used to say Finn was a lousy liar. That his heart was never really in it. That was always the problem. His heart was never in anything. Never belonged to anyone.

“Really. It's a condition,” Finn insists. His hair's always wet and his clothes are soaked through and every time he walks his shoes make a squelching sound. “Hyper—uhhhhh... hydro...?” He ruined a library book trying to look it up the other day, but now he can't seem to remember anything from that afternoon other than the nap he took right before dinner. It was a great nap. He had a dream where he was back home, in the water, all alone and unattached, shoulders unburdened with the weight of family. It was beautiful. “I sweat a lot.”

He frowns, like it's a particularly troublesome illness. Like he's deserving of pity, and to have all his whims catered to. “It's a serious condition. Affects... two percent of all fi—of people.” He smiles then. If anything else, this tends to tide him over whenever he's trying to convince someone of something. Worked on his wife right up until it didn't. Till she left him. But that's only because of prolonged exposure. Surely, it'll work in his favour this time.

[prophetyse]

↪ @astrophager , [ TXT ] : u ever think about how weird existing is

[ TXT ] : yeah actually [ TXT ] : tho i'm sure you have some science stuff that makes it weird [ TXT ] : sometimes i think about how many ppl there were before us and it makes me a lil nauseous

[thatrudeengineer]

[RP] - A Rocky Start

@astrophager

There were few things Serik loves more than to explore the cosmos. He had spent most of his life out in deep space, and even more so in the last few years, but he didn't think he could ever tire of it.

It wasn't always fun, of course. Sometimes there were pirates. Other times, he got caught in an asteroid belts. Others yet again, he found himself dangerously low on resources at the worst of times.

It wasn't always fun. But it was always interesting. Always thrilling. And it always made him want to go back out again to see what else he could find out there.

That day cycle, he was taking Rutile out for a spin after parking Pyrite on a nearby planetoid, when he saw it.

A distress signal.

It sent a chill down his spine. Part excitement, part anticipation. Distress signals were always -- if not fun -- interesting. He could never know what it would be. It could be old salvage that was still emitting well after its occupants' death. It could be someone in actual distress. It could be a trap. Anything was possible.

He grinned through his helmet and pressed a few buttons in the cockpit. "Let's check that out, yeah?" he told his ship, even though she had neither AI nor even a voice to answer him with. It didn't matter, she was still his baby and his best friend. "Jus' gotta find the source and... there!" He patted her dashboard as if to congratulate her, plotted the course to the signal, and got going.

What he found at the source of the signal was... not underwhelming, per se, but...

He tilted his head as he slowly approached the structure, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Well.

First of all, it wasn't destroyed. That was a good thing at least. And, well... According to his scans, it was still running. Maybe not operational, but there was power. And some sort of fuel source, even if he couldn't make sense of whatever the fuck that was.

But the... the ship? He had never seen one like that, it almost looked like those old ships he'd seen on archives from Old Earth. And yet, not quite... But the ship... It looked like it was just floating there, rather than heading anywhere, which was a cause for worry.

He brought Rutile a little closer, matching speed with the spacecraft, and opened communication channels. Hopefully, one of those would reach the unknown craft.

"Rutile here. You sent a district signal. Are you in need of assistance?"

[dumbthink]

i haven't always been like this. - ALSO from @astrophager

@astrophager

“You’re telling me you weren’t born on a spaceship? I’m shocked, truly.”

They do wonder if their inability to be serious bothers the guy. It’s one thing to be stuck in a spaceship with someone else, and it’s one thing for Nadine to be annoying. It’s something else entirely to be trapped in a spaceship with that annoying person. They actually feel for Ryland, almost sorry that they’re all he’s got.

They would feel more if any of this were their own fault. And they have no idea how much is his.

“What’s that mean? Like this? You gotta be more specific.”

[celestiulmadonna]

The cosmos likes to dole out surprises like little treats. A rare enough occurrence that every time it happens, Mantis finds herself licking her teeth in anticipation of the next one—only to find herself disappointed when none come.

Ryland, she's beginning to suspect, is one of those rare surprises.

@astrophager: “How do you do that? Say out loud what I’m thinking?”

The mind is only another mouth. Not that she ever tells anybody that. She's yet to meet anyone who'd like to hear it. “These.” She points to her antennae, sitting still atop her head. “They catch everything.” Thoughts. Feelings. Snippets of the future. “Just kidding.” The joke comes out flat, with all the deadpan delivery of someone making a rather bored observation. Mantis forgets to accompany it with a smile, or a laugh.

“The gifts this one has been given can be... burdensome.” She shrugs, just to test out how it feels. Rarely does she make gestures to convey uncertainty. Rarely does she make any gesture at all that she doesn't need to. “But they are useful. Especially with the tight-lipped. And the stubborn.”

[perfectcrganism]

@astrophager - cont.

the only sounds that return his call are the faint dripping sounds of what must be water. the groaning of the ship's hull. a creak, a thud, a splat. nothing audibly intelligent seems to reply.

until she unfurls her body proper and drops to the floor with a thud. she lands on all fours with the grace of a feline. she has no eyes, no visible nose, but her senses are frighteningly advanced to the point that they would be useless even if she did possess them.

finally, he gets a reply in the form of a low, almost reptilian hiss.

she pivots and shifts, grasping the resin covered walls and scaling to the ceiling. then she makes her way towards the sound, the uncertain chime of hello. the air is rank with uncertainty, with fear and that spurs her on.

the shadows are her ally. she's above him now, the soft biped clad in armor-- an armor that can only protect him from the deadly void outside. a void she can survive with ease.

she drops down behind him, her tail coiling around her legs before she stands slowly, surely. she hisses again, rivulets of drool cascading down her chitinous chin, claws flexing at her sides. he is not like the ones she has been feeding from, the ones that birthed her. he came from outside.

outside....