Chapter Text
Lunar tromped through the woods with Umbra in his hands. He was fully aware that they could have called Kc to come pick them up, but he'd chosen to walk instead. Take some quiet time to think. Umbra was also in a melancholy mood.
The little bot picked up a rock and threw it into the woods as hard as he could. The stone hit a tree with a thump and rolled off into the grass.
"This is so stupid."
Umbra made a sighing noise. "If it makes you feel any better; our family forgiving Eclipse wasn't on my Bingo card either. Let alone doing it twice." He folded his arms with a huff. "Our sister would probably say it'd be best to work through our respective anger issues with him anyway."
"I don't want to work on that stuff. I'd rather just forget about it."
"You don't want to do that... Repressing things isn't healthy."
Lunar stopped walking and looked incredulously down at the doll. "Knowing what you did to your emotions... that's pretty hypocritical."
Umbra made a soft growl. "Yeah, probably. But guess what happened when I died? Those floodgates were thrown wide and I had to deal with all of those feelings all at once. It was so painful... It's part of the reason I didn't come straight back. I was stuck in my own personal hell experiencing all the shit I hadn't reacted too because my emotions were almost entirely shut off. To be honest; it fucking sucked and I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
The little bot puffed out his cheeks and started walking again.
"Damn Firefly... At least he had the sense to just give them away so he wasn't creating a backlog of shit for later..." Umbra muttered. "Point is. Sun isn't going to let you stuff him in the trash compactor. Especially knowing that it might turn him into a angry poltergeist that we can't just chain to the wall to keep him out of the way."
"If he hits me again I'm gonna fry him."
"Then it will be self-defense at least. Just... Make an effort little brother. For me. As much as he pisses me off; he is clearly suffering quite a bit. Ol' starboy gave you a quick death at least. He didn't leave you shattered and struggling." He shivered in discomfort.
The turn off the gravel road came into view and they smelled the embers of a campfire. As they got closer they saw the cute trailer that Kc called home. It was so small it was hard to believe the bot could even fit inside. Let alone pull up his knees and drive the RV somewhere. It had a generous awning folded out from one side and several potted flowers on the ground next to the poles. Between it and them was the remnants of a fire inside a ring of stones. There were several thick sections of tree trunk near it that clearly served as a place to sit and one of them sported an axe and a small pile of chopped wood beside it.
It was quiet apart from a shuff-shuff noise nearby.
Kc moved the little broom across something on the ground. He plucked up a twig with his claws and tossed it aside as well.
"Grandpa Kc?" Lunar said quietly.
The giant bot turned to smile down at them. "Just doing. A bit of. Tidying up."
"Oh..." Lunar looked down.
They were simple slabs of concrete with small indented letters. Crude and handmade gravestones set slightly into the soft, loamy ground. They had names and dates and some small designs clearly etched with claws. Bloodmoon, Moon, Eclipse. There were red poppies, bluebells and orange tulips planted beside the markers.
"I suppose. Only Bloodmoon is. Still missing now."
Umbra made an uncomfortable noise. "They killed a lot of humans... It's possible they actually went to Hell."
"Knowing that souls. Are not destroyed. The chance remains. Of another. Meeting."
Lunar made a non-committal noise. "They're gonna fix up the original eclipse. Earth insists they take care of him first because he's in pain or something."
"Your sister. Is a kind soul."
"If he gets cozy with her, I'm gonna fucking scream." Lunar grumbled.
"Well... she isn't with Monty anymore." Umbra sighed. "I never thought my old buddy would do something so fucking stupid with the star."
"Hopefully it. Is still. Hidden?"
"Oh yes." Umbra replied. "Well-hidden. And Firefly doesn't know it still exists. Thankfully."
"How is. Earth faring?"
Lunar shrugged. "She's a goose. She seems to be dealing with it as well as anyone would expect. It's inconvenient and she's gotten accidentally kicked a few times because she's so small now. Eclipse has gotten in the habit of carrying her here and there." He folded his arms in annoyance. "Firefly needs to stop fucking touching her. He's so disgusting."
Umbra gave Kc a plaintive look.
Kc cocked his head curiously. "If I broke. Your spine. And threw you. In a manure pile. Would you not. Be desperate. For comfort?"
"I know what you're trying to do." Lunar snipped. "I can't feel sorry for him. He's a terrible person."
"Does Earth mind. Him touching her?"
"She should... he smells like roadkill."
"She doesn't mind." Umbra said softly. "They're friends at least. I'm trying to make peace with it myself."
Kc sat down in the grass to get more level with them. "Eclipse became good-."
Lunar let out a little bark of laughter. "Sorry-sorry!"
"More well-behaved. At least." Kc amended. "And it was because. Of love. If you wish. Firefly to not. Cause trouble. Carrots are preferable. To sticks."
The notion of beating Firefly with a variety of sticks crossed Lunar's mind, but he kept his thoughts to himself. "So I'm supposed to be cool with letting her get her heart broken by his nasty ass?"
"I think. An eclipse's desperate need. For love. Is well-established. His reincarnation. Is willing. To grovel for it. He could use. A friend. At least. And if he is. To be fixed. The stench and gore. Should be. Eliminated."
"His personality will still stink though."
Umbra looked up at his little brother. "I guess that's for Earth to decide. As far as I know she still has a bunch of censor and child-lock fuckery in her systems. The shell Moon and Solar made for her would have eliminated all that garbage. So console yourself that even if he does get along with her, they probably won't do anything more adult then holding hands."
Lunar groaned in annoyance.
"Perhaps you are. Too young. To consider. Adult things."
"I'm not a child!"
"Are you. Certain Lunar? I could explain. The birds. And bees. To you."
"Can we talk about ANYTHING else???" Lunar whined.
"Certainly Lunar. You can assist. With some chores."
Lunar and the doll glanced around in confusion. "Like what? You want me to do dishes or something?"
"I inherited. Golden's house. I need to check on. A few things there."
"Yeah... We can do that."
Sunlo watched the numbers on the buildings climb as they neared the address. Their destination was a bit hard to see since it occupied a basement level beneath a clothing store. They took some narrow stairs down from the level of the street to reach the door. Sunlo opened it cautiously and couldn't suppress a smile as a string of bells on the other side of it jingled merrily.
Moonlit stared and stared. It wasn't just that there were a lot of sex toys on the shelves, it was that he couldn't identify how a lot of them could even be used.
A thin man with blond hair popped his head out of the back room and gave them a wide smile. "Oh my! Hello! And Josie!" He sidled up to the glass counter. "We haven't met, but I've seen you at bowling tournaments before."
She squinted at him. "Name that starts with a D? Or an H?"
"You were right the first time. Dylan. But please, who else have you brought?"
"I'm Sunlo, and this is my partner Moonlit."
"Ah just like the sun and the moon. How delightful! I had the pleasure of working on some equipment for a larger version of your models once. How can I help you today?"
Sunlo pulled up the message on her HUD. "I'm glad you said that, because I'm here to get something a bit less exotic for someone who has almost the same DCA endo and exo as me."
"Is the difference in the models something I need to take into account?"
Sunlo's glow clicked on and she snapped it back off again. "They need male equipment. I have the sleeve attachment. Everything else should be the same. I can email you the sensor specs if needed?"
Dylan smiled at her softly. "I may not have had multiple chances to build for your type of anamatronic; but the connections are generic and do work for a prosthetic on a modified human. Accidents happen around here and more then half the population lacks pain sensing nerves anyway."
"That's... Unsettling..." Moonlit mumbled.
"Oh it's fine." Josie said brightly. "It just means we can do a lot of our own healthcare stuff at home and work on ourselves if needed. It's a common genetic trait for folks who are third generation or higher residents."
Dylan was nodding along with her words. "Exactly right. But the point I was trying to make is; I have some basic models for sale if this is a rush order?"
Sunlo was fighting to keep her embarrassment out of her voice. "Just a decent dick about yay big?" She lifted a hand, describing a length and girth with her fingers. "He'd like something that's yellow or would match a yellow casing decently. Other then that, I don't know."
The shopkeeper drummed his fingers. "I have a yellow and black that's the right size? It's got an artsy design if you want something more textured then a human phallus too. Just wait here a sec."
He ducked into the back room and Sunlo noticed that her moon's face and arms were lit with a cyan glow. Josie had wandered to one side to browse and give them the illusion of privacy at least. "I wouldn't be offended if you two wanted something for yourselves." She said over her shoulder. "As long as you don't break my guest bed."
Sunlo picked at her wrist wraps. "What does one even get for a... two sleeve arrangement?"
Dylan came back in with several apparent shoe boxes in his hands. "Something like this perhaps?" He gestured at a very long and almost clear dildo with two heads. "Or I can mold or attach a double header from any of my handmade designs. It's not a big deal or nearly as expensive if you just want a shaped toy without the electronic parts."
"I'll take the clear one." Moonlit blurted a bit too loudly. "Sorry! Please."
"Okay." The blonde pulled it down and set it beside the register. He went down the row of boxes and opened all the lids for Sunlo to see. And she made slightly embarrassed noises of appreciation in response to each.
He lifted the marbled pale yellow and black so she could see the elaborate textures that snaked from the base to the head.
"This is what I was referring too. It's the closest pre-made I have to your specs."
"Yes, I think Eclipse will approve." There was a quiet click as she took a picture of it.
"And some brown paper please." Josie added. "We'll need to go mail it next."
Dylan winced, rolling his eyes. "Best of luck. When I was there a few days ago the lobby was full of rotating, cloth-wrapped figures. I waited in line for AGES."
In the central room of the library; a portal ripped open and shimmered quietly. Lord Eclipse strode boldly through it with SSun and Clips behind him. Lunie hit the ground with the tricycle and zoomed around his armored feet once before shooting forward across the floor. Both Clips and SSun were weighed down with bags and the servant was pulling a little garden wagon that was also piled up with sacks.
SSun put the bags in his hands on the floor. "I'm going to take the food to the pantry and put it away. I'll be back when I'm done." He made a polite bow as his lord acknowledged him and then departed.
The pastel eclipse took a moment to collect himself. He was worn out on several levels and very glad to re-enter the vast, silent space.
The knight walked to one of the massive study tables and pulled out a chair before flopping into it. "Humans are so exhausting." He grumbled.
"Are they... rebellious Lord?" Clips asked.
"Oh no. They're content enough. But I try to keep my personal appearances few, lest they grow too comfortable." He rested his head in his hands and rubbed his temples. "But that also means that I'm bombarded with a lot of questions when I am there. Adulation is nice, but being social and diplomatic is tiresome."
"Understandable." Clips gathered the rest of the bags and put them on the table. He bared two of his claws and began cutting toys loose from their packaging and stuffing the leftover plastic and other garbage into one bag.
Lord Eclipse hooked a box with his own metal claws and began methodically unpacking it.
Lunie careened past them and turned down one of the stacks with a scrape of plastic against stone.
Lord's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"I'm sorry if he's scratching up the floor..." Clips offered.
"It is what it is." Lord Eclipse picked up the box with the dinosaur in it and regarded it for a long moment. "Nothing lasts forever." He reached into the open front of it to cut the plastic straps and jerked back with a sharp cry of pain. He toppled the chair in his haste to stand.
Clips put both hands around Sunbow and fled the table the moment the knight made a sound. "What is it???"
Lord staggered for a moment. His hand felt like it was burning. Some kind of bite... No... "Stay back! There's something..."
A dark shape crawled out of the box and Lord backed away in horror. It grew as it moved until it stepped off the table directly onto the floor. Thin legs like the blades of scythes, a segmented tail with a bulbous stinger rising upward. Pincer claws opening and reaching for him.
Lord screamed for Clips to take the children and flee. The scorpion was made of stars in darkness and he knew in his heart what power it contained.
The fiery spear formed in his hand and his grip faltered as the pain of the sting shot down his arm like a poison. He switched it to his left hand and jabbed it forward, firing a bolt of pure energy at the monstrous asterisim.
The scorpion faltered before recovering as it lost the end of one leg. The segmented tail smashed violently down where the knight had been not a moment before and left a crack that radiated across the marble.
The god gritted his fangs as the star inside him jeered his performance. The beast rushed him and he made a wild stab at the base of one claw. The blade sunk home and he was almost jerked off his feet as his foe retreated from the pain. He took a ready stance and almost dropped his spear as the pain hit him again. His right arm throbbed with the heat of whatever he'd been injected with.
The thing had no face, it almost seemed headless. But he could sense the smile as it advanced on him, angling for another strike.
He readied his spear.
The tail moved almost too fast to see. He dodged to avoid it and caught a blow from one of the pincer claws head on. The impact was so hard he felt some of his small chest plates detach and fly free. The eclipse skidded across the floor with a trail of sparks and hit the edge of one of the massive bookshelves.
For a moment he couldn't see, his ancient OS failing and restarting with the sheer force of the blow. The star was exposed, he couldn't move. He was panicking and the star was laughing.
Move.
Move.
Move or this is where I die.
The scorpion advanced on him, wary that it might be a trick. Not realizing his foe was paralyzed for the moment. Suddenly the thing let out a sharp hiss of air. A shriek of pain through the whistle of a teapot.
SSun was standing behind it as it lurched sideways, it's rear flesh sizzling. He'd filled the electric fryer with boiling oil and threw it onto the astral's back. The servant ran for his fallen master. The blue eyes sent his own systems into a state of panic.
In that moment, SSun made a decision.
"I'm sorry Lord."
He pushed the fingers of his right hand into the hole where the star sat. The soft black flesh giving way for him to hold it. The voices were screaming for him to rip it out, but he stayed put. Clasping the orb inside the hollow without removing it.
SSun could feel the fire swelling inside him. It was hot and cold, nothing and everything. He looked at the astral and noticed it's fear as casually as one might glance at a passing bird. He was the sun itself hanging in the endless void. And this... insect... had offended... dared to set foot in their home...
He could feel the power surge through him, his head flared a blinding corona.
The scorpion hesitated.
The sun roared a tongue of flame.
And the stars that defied him turned to ash in it's radiance.