An Open Gate, A Flawless Sky
Red vs. Blue. Carolina/Kimball and Ohio/Sherry. 3900 words. Rated T. A few years in the future, Carolina meets a friendlier face from her past.
A lot of this is @redteamshark‘s fault. ;) I started this months ago after a conversation we had about what it would be like if Carolina and Ohio met someday, and ended up putting it aside because something was still missing. As it turns out, season 15 gave me some relevant new material to work with, and I decided I’d finish this up for the end of the year. The setting is partially inspired by this post.
Many thanks to @tuckerfuckingdidit for the beta read. <3 All remaining mistakes are mine.
The planet is really bright in the sky, mottled white and blue-green and taking up a lot of the view, though you can still see the dark around it, and if you look far enough from its bright rim, some stars. Carolina hasn’t felt so light in years, literally—the moon Kage, though larger than Luna, is still a lot smaller than Chorus, its gravity gentler. The air’s crisp and cool on her skin.
Strings of colored lights line every building, inside and out, and every street, and the city square. To an Earther, it feels festive, even though it isn’t—just a way of life on a tidally-locked moon whose inner hemisphere gets direct sunlight at sporadic intervals not corresponding to 24-hour days and nights. Tonight, Kage sits directly between Terasa and her blue giant sun. While Kage eclipses a tiny circle of shadow over Terasa’s equator, the light the gas giant reflects bathes the dark side of the moon in cool blue light.
It’s a long time since Carolina has seen Vanessa laugh this much. Her hand doesn’t leave Carolina’s, and she keeps leaning in close, the spiked-up blue tips of her hair tickling Carolina’s forehead. She’s had a drink or two. Carolina hasn’t picked up the name for the local spirit but it’s good stuff, strong with a bright floral burn.
Read on AO3.
