Chapter Text
“And that concludes the serious stuff.” Announced Hornfels, “Thank you for all listening to that, I know it can get a bit dull. You can all meddle amongst yourselves now, I don’t have anything more to say.”
It was the Outer Wilds Ventures’ monthly check in and every member of the program was sitting around the campsite near the radio tower. It was a dark night, the Attlerock being in its stage of early waxing. Trees loomed over the small crowd of astronauts and scientists that were gathered around the bonfire. Despite the eerie environment, however, the mood was jovial. All of the people there were glad to see each other, especially with their schedules that stopped them from meeting too often either because of how stuffed with things to do they were or because they demanded they travel to other planets in the system. This was the one time they were guaranteed to be able to see each other.
As soon as Hornfels gave the go ahead, everyone near simultaneously stood up and began talking to those close by. The only person left sitting was Gabbro, but that wasn’t because they were being anti-social, it was rather just that they enjoyed sitting. They were leaning back on one arm and using the other to hold a stick that had a blackened marshmallow on the far end which they were gnawing into.
Standing next to them was the newest member of the Outer Wilds Ventures: Shale, who was leaning down to grab a marshmallow from a can next to the fire. They held the gooey treat up to the light and examined it for a moment, using their kind’s natural talent for the appraisal of this food.
“Need a stick?” Asked Gabbro, reaching for a nearby fallen tree branch that was of appropriate length and straightness for the job.
“Nah, I’m fine.” Shale gestured for Gabbro to put the stick down, to which Gabbro shrugged and threw it into the fire. Shale then proceeded to simply plop the marshmallow into their mouth without even putting anywhere near the fire. Gabbro had seen Shale’s odd preferences when it came to marshmallows, but they never quite got used to it.
“Not even gonna give it a little roast?” Asked Gabbro.
“Nope, they’re best raw. No need to cook it when it’s already perfect.” Shale explained with some difficulty as their mouth was stuffed full of half-chewed marshmallow.
“Whatever you say buddy.” Gabbro sighed, a subtle smile creeping across their face.
“Hey, you don’t have room to talk with your charred mallows!”
“Don’t knock it ‘till you try it!” Gabbro retracted a marshmallow they had been burning out of the fire and handed the stick it was on to Shale. “Go on, try it at least once.”
Shale took it and bit into the marshmallow. “Mm, carcinogens!” They swooned sarcastically. Shale handed the stick back to Gabbro and sat down next to them, enjoying the heat of the fire on their scales.
“I’m sure you’ll come to love it when you come to be a veteran explorer like me.” Gabbro stuck another marshmallow on the stick and practically committed arson with it again.
“You’re not a veteran quite yet.” Retorted Shale.
“Says who?”
“Gossan.” Shale raised two of their four eyebrows. “They laid it out during one of their lessons of procedure.”
“Ah, then I was probably asleep. Those chairs are comfy and Gossan’s voice is the perfect white noise for falling unconscious.”
Shale hit them in the arm with their elbow. “You gotta pay attention to these things, they’re important. You’re a fledgling while in training, a novice in your first ten years, an adept from ten to twenty years, and you’re finally a veteran after 20. Currently Feldspar’s the only veteran, you’re just a novice.”
“I’m still doing better than you, fledgling.” Chuckled Gabbro.
“For only like two more weeks!”
“Still a fledgling.” Teased Gabbro, shoving their now sufficiently burnt marshmallow into their mouth while Shale did something similar with a raw marshmallow straight out of the tin. They sat peacefully as the fire crackled and shot up embers from the flame and the rest of the members of the outer wilds chatted around them. Chert and Riebeck were discussing the strange nomai signal coming from Ember Twin they had found recently, Hal and Slate were talking about some new technological ideas they had, and Hornfels was sitting in a rocking chair they hauled out and was simply enjoying the company of their fellow space enthusiasts.
The two looked up as Giant’s Deep slowly and elegantly floated across the sky, pulling itself from one end of the horizon to the other. The nomai space station (at least that’s what they guessed it was) spun around the planet, its size quite impressive. Maybe that’s where Shale would go on their first journey into space, though maybe not. They weren’t one to charge headfirst into unknown alien satellites without a plan, and a good plan of this caliber would take much longer than two weeks to create. They decided they would go to Giant’s Deep and hang out with Gabbro for a time while they got their bearings and just do a couple flybys of the station while they were there. Maybe they would go and take a look at that island that Gabbro had mentioned a bit back with all the statues as well.
Shale was pulled out of their daydreaming/planning session by Gabbro who was pointing at a bright point far off in the sky. “Hey, what’s that?”
Shale squinted and tried to make out the dot. It looked like one of the countless other stars in the clear night sky, but this one was much more vivid than its siblings. Shale pulled out their signalscope and looked through the lens, adjusting the zoom to its maximum setting. With their now enhanced vision they could see that it seemed to be a bunch of tiny particles violently expanding outward from a central point. “It looks like… an explosion?”
Gabbro was looking through their signalscope now too. “I think it’s a supernova. Chert tells me they’re super rare, we’re lucky to see one.”
“It’s really pretty…”
“It sure is.”
The two enjoyed the remarkable and dazzling phenomena, blissfully unaware of its nature as an omen, the first domino in the chain that would lead to their certain demise.