ITT: We are our avatars.

Abandoned Town

"Oh." So she was a giant, living planet, that happened to look like some sort of coalesced starfield, and she was able to hear him because of inexplicable paracausal abilities.

"That's... actually pretty neat," he eventually decided on. "Most of the aliens I've met have tried to kill me."

"Man, those aliens sound like jerks!" Starchild said, showing her mastery over understatements. "I try to be the fun kind of alien, though. Kind of like some sort of cool space mom."

Abandoned Town

"Jerks about sums it up. There's a disgraced race of scavengers, and they wanna kill us because they want our God. There's a giant militarized race of bulls, and they wanna kill us because we exist. There's a race of... chitinous death wizards, and they wanna kill us because their entire culture revolves around killing things, and they also have a sub-race of brainwashed, corrupted other aliens who are mindless murder automatons. And there's a race of robots trying to turn everything, everywhere, into machines, which means that when we try to tell them that's not good what do you know they wanna fucking kill us."

He paused for a moment. "Oh, right, and there's still another race of religious fanatics that are actually corrupted versions of the scavengers. But a different kind of corrupted, somehow. Don't worry, they still want to kill us too. Gotta preserve the status quo, right?"

"Dang, that's a lot of aliens that want to kill you! Don't worry, I'm pretty sure everyone from my particular race is benevolent... I hope, anyway! Aw geez, I'd rather not imagine the alternative."

Abandoned Town

"Believe me, I've been to every corner of the Solar System. There's not one place there that doesn't have aliens that want to eat your face or poison you with milk. Thank the Light you're nice, because... to be honest I'm having difficulty imagining how I would be able to kill you, even with a fireteam."

That's not a very nice thing to say, the man's companion prodded him with.

And? It's honest, was the response. Honesty is good, right?

"You'd probably need something like a Star Destroyer," Starchild said, being unusually helpful to someone discuss methods of slaying her. "Er, wait, why did I bring that up?"

Abandoned Town

"Yeah, I'd probably need something like that Almighty to... wait, why did you bring that up?"

Finally having had enough of this, the man's companion materialized next to him. "Why did you bring that up?"

"I told you! Honesty!"

"Well, let's see if you can fire one before I destroy it with gravitational forces."

She sticks out her tongue playfully.

Abandoned Town

"You'd be surprised at what a good Guardian can do. Some of us have killed gods before," the man boasted, while his companion did a very good job of looking embarrased on his behalf.

"That's pretty impressive. But you know what I'd do if I met a God? ...I don't know, actually. But I'd probably give them a hug."

Truly the greatest menace in the galaxy.

Abandoned Town

"The Traveller might like that," the man thought. "Then again... I can't really tell what it thinks. Some Guardians get visions, but I've never gotten one."

"Oh, who is the Traveler? Did they create your universe?"

Abandoned Town

"They might as well have." The man launched into a story he knew well by heart, a story only bolstered by the latest finds his companion informed him about - her mind practically permanently jacked into official Vanguard and City news feeds.

"A long time ago, humanity was graced with the presence of the Traveller. All we really know about it is that it's a large, white sphere, which gives us our Light and made our Ghosts. But anyways, with its blessing, mankind reached a Golden Age of technological marvels and human achievements. Mercury, Venus, Mars, the moons of Titan and Saturn - all terraformed. If we weren't walking on new soil, or advancing the frontier of science, we were living in space habitats."

"Then," he swerved, "something killed us. Humanity fell apart in The Collapse, a disaster so thorough that even with a hundred thousand Ghosts in the solar system we still don't know any true specifics. All we know is that it eradicated civilization. Killed everyone that wasn't on Earth. And only because of the sacrifice of the Traveller was humanity able to claw their way through the night."

Edited by SpartyMcFly on Nov 10th 2018 at 11:41:43 AM

Bar

Vivian: There is one you might have missed. Even if they're a bit more scattered these days.

"Wow. I wonder what makes mysterious forces like that just appear and pave the way for life to thrive like that. It really is a mystery."

Bar

"Oh?"

Mitch raised an eyebrow.

Abandoned Town

"It's something a lot of Warlocks get into heady arguments about," the man agreed. "Nobody really knows where the Traveller came from. Just that it did."

Bar

Vivian: Didn't you used to run with a group of people who have no ties beyond their collective boredom driving them to roam the cosmos together and make an utter pig's ear of things until they ended up doing something right, making the world a slightly better place before they repeat the process?

"Well, I guess for other people to sort out. I'm just gonna focus on floating through space and meeting new people like you!"

Bar

"Shit..."

For a moment Mitch sat there, lost in memories. He had quite a lot of them. He'd been here quite a while, hadn't he?

He had made a lot of friends.

He'd not seen them in a while.

"Yeah. Maybe go talk to some old friends. See if they wanna come out and have some fun."

Abandoned Town

"It's a good idea. A great one, even. Just... keep something at your side, because some day you're going to meet something out there that just hates. My Warlock friend always put it as 'the sword only understands the sword'. It's confusing, but... poetic once you figure it out."

Bar

Vivian: Trust me. If I'm any indication, they certainly all want to have fun. They just needed the right time and the right excuse.

"Well, I'm not alone. You can't see them from where you are, but I've got a bunch of people by my side! With them, I feel I can do anything."

Bar

"I'll need to go fetch some of 'em then."

Mitch looked down to his drink.

"...Maybe after tonight."

Abandoned Town

"Can't argue that," the man said. "It's never a bad thing to have friends."

"...Aw, damn, where's my manners! Antares-4. Pleased to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you, Antares! I'm Starchild."

Bar

Vivian: Want to see how your liver is holding up?

Abandoned Town

"Heh. Starchild."

"Hey! That's rude!"

Antares looked over at Juno, his companion. "What? To laugh at the coincidence of a giant planet person being called Starchild? I'm not insulting her!"