Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was cold as always. He lay in his broken and mangled corpse free of its sickness dead along with it’s host. He wasn’t truly dead, oh he doesn’t deserve that privilege. He wondered is this how his- his… someone important to him, they- what happened to them? They fell? He thinks they did. It was his fault but her fault too? He can’t remember exactly. He came to accept the tragedy of not being able to truly remember this important person. Her? Their? His? Name drifted in and out of his memory.

He tried to refocus what little brainpower he had left back to his current state. The cold like needles in his artificial skin, the sun somewhere up high. He’s pretty sure it’s there but with how his optics are degraded and the curtains of snowfall and the occasional blizzard it’s hard to truly know. Something moved in the rouble. Something small. That’s all he’d care to register about the thing it would be gone soon anyway.

It did not. However even as this green little thing approached he gave it little mind until it was close enough for him to see it’s general shape. It reminded him- it reminded him of something blue? Something about water? He discarded that train of thought and decided to at least greet the being.

“He- hello… green thing…”

That’s all his mangled mind managed to string together.

The thing just stood there. It started making weird sounds.

“Green thing…?”

He asked puzzled by the noises it made. After a while something dark and round fell from the figure. Even in his sorry state he realised what it was.

“Tha-“

He cut himself off. Did the thing take it. He can’t remember. There is no memory of the thing.

“Thank you… green thing…”

The oh so familiar song starts playing as the dark orb pearl starts singing again. He was so focused on the music that he barely registered it laying on his legs. Truth be told he only noticed due to the sudden lack of the prickling sensation he had grown so used to that the sudden lack of it was surprising. He placed his hand gently on the creature’s body, digging it in after realising why it made the stinging go away.

“You warm… fluffy…

…stay please…”

The little thing much to his relief did in fact stay leaning into his hand.

But of course it couldn’t last forever. Pebbles felt the needles dig deeper.

“Cold coming…

…leave please… shelter…”

The creature seemed to heed his warning. He hoped it would return. It would. Many times, in fact so many times that it received the utmost honour of having it’s general features remembered. It was something he had seen before. Blurry flashes of a blue thing appeared in his mind along with a red thing. It was big as big as him, green two? five? eyes, two legs, two arms, big fluff, big tongue.

After the recent blizzard cleared he saw the green friend again with a glowing ball. He had two around him already. They made the stinging go away if only a little. Did it bring those two? He thinks yes.

“Nice to see…

Green friend… back…”

The small green creature dropped the glowing ball near him and pressed it’s face into his neck. He wrapped his hands around holding tight. Well as tight as his decrepit body let him which is not that much.

“Thank you… friend…

Thank you… for warm… company…”

The creature pulled away a little meeting it’s eyes with him. Suddenly they all lit up glowing blue and orange. It was quite disorientating. Was it supposed to do that? He doesn’t remember it doing that. All he managed to say was:

“So… fiv-“

But his comment was cut short by a loud ping.

------

He was- he. Pebbles slowly sat up looking over his surroundings. His chamber, yes that’s what it was called… it was not broken. He could remember. Oh void he could remember. The bliss of being able to remember his past even if the memories were so, so painful was overwhelming. He could remember her name… yes Moon, Looks to the Moon his big sister. But what was happening?

He subconsciously sent an overseer to check the outside of his can. It wasn’t snowing. Pebbles just sat there for a moment looking at the feed. Moreso he could see her sisters can still standing. How? How did this happen? Did he? With unbridled curiosity he opened his schedule.

Only a bit over a thousand cycles after sliver died. In an instant he felt a wave of emotions. But in the end he couldn’t really feel anything, as his emotions were obscured by an odd and overwhelming feeling. He was tired. His systems were sluggish, very much so, maybe because he was sent back in time or maybe because he was so used to being barely able to string a sentence together that now being back to full mental capacity was overwhelming. Whatever it was he thought he knew a cure.

He remembered that around this time someone posted a piece of software that allowed iterators to sleep. Back then he would scoff at it but now. Honestly he’d give anything for that. Good thing it was public. He quickly downloaded it, had to wait for the virus scan to finish and ran it. At first he was disappointed. Did it not work? But after a couple of minutes of inspecting the code pebbles realised that the program didn’t activate instantly. It was a slow burn.

He did not find it in the code but more so came to the realisation as he found sitting upright and keeping his eyes closed to be increasingly more difficult. A thought went through his head, quite sluggishly, probably due to the mix of time travel brain fog and the sleep program. He didn’t sit on the ground usually did he? That doesn’t matter now tho. No one is watching and sitting makes it much easier to get into a more comfortable position. Pebbles lowered himself to the floor of his chamber lying on his metaphorical stomach. He put one of his arms under his head and closed his eyes. Figuring this out is going to be on the agenda after his head is clear.

Chapter Text

As Pebbles wakes up from his slumber he is greeted by the quiet ping of a message notification. Then another and another. Slowly yet steadily the pings became more rapid and loud. Which was odd. As far as Pebbles knew if you get multiple messages at once you get the ping instantly.

Was it? He opened the code of the aptly named sleep.exe file searching through it with his now refreshed mind, and… yes the creator added a QOL feature when upon waking the iterator wouldn’t be bombarded by notifications. A small thing but really big difference.

Honestly the more he finds out about the program the worse he feels for the guy. He remembers him getting a lot of flack especially from the more... actually no the hatred came from just about every group there was. Some stupid reason about karma or something. Even before he thought of it as silly. But he’s getting off track he should probably check what’s the deal with the message pings. He opened his inbox and… wow that’s a lot of messages.  

Wind’s, Innocence, No Significant Harassment, Moon… but not Suns? Even tho he still held some resentment for him, he felt quite offended. Then he realised. Suns wasn’t in his contacts.

Panic.

Did he not go back in time? Was this some kind of parallel universe? Does Suns just not exist here?

Realisation.

As his neurons fired he just groaned and slapped the face of his puppet. He checked the date! Of course you idiot. This is before innocence even introduced you to each other. Technically they met before on public chats and sliverist groups but it wasn’t anything notable. He still checked. Just to be sure. But he should focus back on his messages. He should at least read them starting with… Moon.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Looks to the Moon, Five Pebbles]

LttM: I noticed the activity in your structure has gone down significantly. Has something happened?

LttM: You’re receiving these so it’s shouldn’t be anything major but still. Please contact me if anything is wrong.

------

LttM: Pebbles it has been an etire cycle, even if you had to do a reboot unnanounced it would have been over arleady.

LttM: The entire group is freaking out.

LttM: Pebbles please if something happaned tell me. I know for a fact you can anwser these.

------

LttM: Pebbles it’s been two entire cycles I am extremely concerned about your wellbeing. Please don’t make me use a forced broadcast.

LttM: I hope you’re just scaring us but at least say  something.

Two entire cycles? Pebbles checked and yes, he was asleep for that long. At least the exhaustion is mostly gone. Some still clings to his mind but it’s a mere fraction of what it was before. He should respond shouldn’t he? He should at least keep up appearances to some degree. That would be a lot easier to do behind the screen than in a forced br- his thoughts were interrupted by another message ping.

LttM: I see that your structure has gone back to it’s normal activity. I won’t force a broadcast but still. Everyone is worried sick. I know you don’t often talk to our group but could you just give a “I’m fine” or “I’m not fine”?

He probably should. He doesn’t know if he’d do it for the others but for Moon at least. But also she’ll tell the others anyway. He might as well tell them himself. It’ll spare him the nagging before the news spreads. So he responded. Well to moon first but the massage was made vague so he could just copy it as a response to everyone.

FP: I am ok, there is no need to worry.

LttM: Pebbles! Thank the void you’re ok. Still I don’t think your structure’s activity going down by abut 85% for 2 cycles is something I shouldn’t be concerned with.

LttM: Could you at least tell me why that happened?

Alright excuse time. Come on Pebbles you can make up some kind of excuse. He thought for a bit and came to an idea. He could tell a partial truth and spin it as something his old self would do. Or really maybe possibly may have considered. That's the best he's gonna get right now.

FP: I was overworking myself quite a bit.

LttM: Wait did you overload!?

FP: Calm down moon let me finish.

LttM: Apologies. I’m just a little on edge.

FP: I… understand.

FP: However we’re getting off track.

LttM: Yes, sorry. You were overworking yourself? Just adding on even if it didn’t cause your issiue, please try and not do it.  I understand you’re very determined especially after Slivers passing, but still it’s not good for your structure.

FP: I understand Moon. I’ll try and make sure to not do that again. But back on topic I was experiencing some sort of fatigue so I decided to try something I wouldn’t usually.

LttM: That being?

FP: You know an iterator by the name of Oblivions Ingest?

LttM: Oh! I know who you’re talking about. Living up to his name huh?

LttM: Wait you’re telling me you’ve been asleep for 2 entire cycles?

FP: …

LttM: Pebbles.

FP: I may have overdone it a little bit.

LttM: I wouldn’t consider it a little but still. It’s relieving to know nothing bad happened. Also it's funny that while we were loosing our minds you were sleeping. Hoenstly it’s cute imagining you taking a nap.

FP: Ok I’m leaving.

LttM: Fair. Bye Pebbles!

FP: Goodbye Moon.

Pebbles closed the comms window after sending the others his pre made response. He sat there and realised. What now?

He’s certainly not chasing the solution that’s a lost cause as far as he cares. Just staying in his chamber and waiting for the world to end again didn’t sound appealing either. Maybe deciding what to do until he collapses again can wait a bit. It seems like quite the decision.

He should focus or more short term things, like figuring the whole time travel thing. He was supposed to do that after waking up, but honestly the more he thought about it the more unachievable that goal was. A magic cat sent him way back into the past, there isn’t really a scientific explanation to find is there?

Maybe… maybe he should visit moon. He managed to hold in his feelings for now but he misses her dearly. They technically talked but he want’s something more real than a chat or a call.

But that means he has to manufacture one of those remote puppets. Again a thing he did not pay much mind too, however this was a lot more popular. He remembered Hara using one to pull one of his dumb pranks on him.

But what was he going to do when he get’s there? Talk about his feelings? Like a child coming to mommy because they had a nightmare? Pebbles groaned at himself. Y’know maybe he does that! And if that doesn’t work out he can just rot sit in his chamber till the end of time or something. It’s not like any of this will matter in the end, so yes he’s going to go to his big sister like a little baby! WHO CARES?

Ok he needs to calm down a bit. But yes going to Moon sounded like a decent idea. He… he just want to see her face to face. Maybe he’ll talk, not about the future but still he’ll try at least do feelings talk.

It would be easy really. Going to Moon that is. He just needed to make the puppet connect it and walk over to Moon’s structure. Due to the proximity of their structures connection is not an issue and his can is not yet overran by any critters making going to Moon an easy and safe affair. Safety was important as even tho the mobile puppets were remotely controlled being mauled was not a pleasant experience as many unfortunate iterators found out. Especially since it takes time to disconnect.

So perfect he has a plan and work to keep his mind off of things.

He downloaded and opened the file for the generic mobile puppet model and started working.

Chapter Text

Designing a mobile puppet for himself was surprisingly easy. Pebbles knew that the process wasn’t difficult but he didn’t expect it to be this simple. The only consistent thing between iterator generations was the puppet. Every puppet has the same internals, height, etc. making it so there was no need to adjust anything besides appearance aka making the puppet pink, giving it the yellow markings and white eyes. What wasn’t going to be easy is keeping the thing alive.

Making or more accurately growing the thing is again, an effortless affair but after that it all goes downhill. The thing is mostly biological so it needs all the basic stuff. Breathing, drinking and eating. The first two are quite easy as the puppets can do both of the former via it's skin. The latter however was tricky. Most iterators didn’t bother with this step simply discarding the puppet after its initial food reserves from when it was grown run out.

The materials for these puppets are extremely easy to acquire and there is no worry about corpses just laying around as vultures, lizards or microbes will happily devour it. He didn’t really want to just throw away the puppet when he was done with it. It reminded him a bit too much of how his creators treated them. The question of feeding it was a good one. It had a sort of insertion point at the back of the neck to be fed nutrient slurry.

It would be sufficient as the puppet can hold nutrients for up to 40 cycles however the problem appears when you’re not controlling it as it can’t exactly come to you and say “Hey I’m hungry.” or "Give me water please.". Many puppets died simply because an iterator forgot it had to feed or water it that cycle. He could make the slurry and set up an alert every 30 cycles or so to feed the thing but he wondered if there was a more efficient way to go about this.

The main problem was that the puppet was essentially running at full capacity even when not piloted. He wondered if there was a way to intentionally slow down the puppets systems in some way…

He thought about sleep. It could work, although he did not know if it would be compatible with mobile puppets. After going through the program, it was. Well to be more specific it had a version specifically made for iterator puppets. Honestly what did this guy not think of when making this. Maybe an automatic script that sends your group a “hey I’m taking a nap don’t worry” message would be convenient.

Maybe he could do that but later. Going back to the program, good thing he checked it as it requires a couple of modifications to be introduced to the puppet that could only be done when it is still in development.

He returned to the screen showing him the blueprint for his mobile puppet. He added the necessary modifications and noticed that there were settings. More specifically settings that let you alter the physical appearance of the puppet. Very taboo if you’d ask him. He looked over the options. Quite extensive. Really surprised he didn’t notice it before. Thought he didn't look for them either.

Focusing back on the panel again he considered the options, messing around with them just to see what happens. The program was well made, making sure the puppet would work with the changed proportions. A presence of a reset button was also appreciated. In the end he settled for making himself a bit smaller. Just for the sake of it.

All right blueprint is ready as sent to a lab to prepare for growing. He noticed it’s the same lab that…

Better not to think about it.

Anyways, he would also need to clothe it. Simple enough just make one of his robes adjusted for the size difference. But he’s forgetting that even though the road to Moon is mostly safe of predators that doesn’t mean his clothes won’t get filthy and torn, not to mention how it would get in the way as it was not made with casual parkour and climbing in mind.

The simplest option was to simply make a set of clothes more appropriate for such task. A long sleeve shirt and a set of pants as well as a bag to carry his other set of clothing would suffice. He initially wanted to make them orange like his cloak but he changed his mind and made them a mostly faded brown to make dirt and debris less obvious. Same with the bag, it was designed to resemble a mail bag which was used to carry messages back when people used letters for long distance communication. His robe would fit with some room to spare, if he folded it right that is.

After looking the designs over and adjusting some proportions he sent it to one of his biofactories. It’s surprising how many things you can simply grow. He also silently thanked whoever decided that iterators should have blueprints for growing said clothes as without these he’d be hopeless. Not really, as far as he knew Wind’s and Inno were quite interested in fashion. Speaking of the group he should actually ask Moon if he could visit. He knew the answer already but it would be rude to just come unannounced.

He opened up his contacts and sent a message to Moon.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Looks to the Moon, Five Pebbles]

FP: Hello Moon would you be ok if I were to visit you in about-

How long would it take exactly? The puppet would take about 60 cycles, the clothes would be done before that however setting up the connection and making sure everything’s right would add another 5, in addition it would take another 5 or so cycles to get to Moon’s structure.

FP: -about 70 cycles more or less

LttM: That would be great Pebbles! Of course you can come.

LttM: To be honest I’d never imagine you’d use those mobile puppets.

FP: I am trying out new things.

LttM: Good to hear. If I may ask are you trying out any other new things?

FP: No. However I may consider some if you have any ideas.

Gotta keep the excuse up. But he would be lying if he said that he didn’t have a genuine interest in new experiences.

LttM: I may have some but I’ll tell you later. You’ve said that you’ll be here in about 70 cycles? I’m assuming you haven’t made the puppet yet.

FP: Your assumption is correct I quite literary started today.

LttM: Oh interesting.

LttM: Wait did you start making the puppet just to visit me?

FP: It was one of the ideas that went through my head. I want to try out new things and I think meeting my sister face to face would count as one.

LttM: !!!

FP: What?

LttM: Breaking news rare sighting of Pebbles calling me his sister! This is going in the collection.

FP: You’ve been collecting what I am assuming to be pearls of chatlogs in which I called you my sister?

LttM: Again! Also yes I have.

FP: I guess I learned a new thing about my sister.

LttM: Ok, you’re messing with me now which is a new development, but in all honesty? I’m not complaining.

FP: Very well. I guess I should go back to supervising the growth of my puppet.

LttM: Yes, that’s probably a good idea, wouldn’t want my little brother to catch the rot now would I?

Pebbles winced at that comment sending a quick goodbye and closing the comm’s screen.

FP: Goodbye Moon.

LttM: Bye Pebbels!

Chapter Text

Growing the puppet was a rather eventless affair. The only thing he needed to do was supervise the growth from time to time. He would get an occasional message from Moon that would be a version of “how’s the puppet coming along?”. Besides that he really didn’t know what to do with his spare time. He decided to simply survey the local fauna. It was something to occupy his time.

He still had 5 cycles of wait ahead of him. It was bearable but after this he’d need to find himself a hobby or something. The biosphere of his facility grounds may be interesting but it isn’t “spend most of your time looking at it” interesting.

The option of talking to others in his group came to mind. He could technically do that. Slipping up however was a legitimate worry of course. However Pebbles mused to himself, his past isolationism might come in handy. Afterall people can’t notice that you’re acting differently when they rarely get to interact with you.

Pebbles thought about who to talk to for a while.

He’s saving talking to Moon for when he get’s to meet her in person and he wasn’t really interested in talking to Hara right now. Innocence and Wind remained. Now one of these did spread pictures of his rot, however he was willing to overlook the transgression if only temporarily. In retrospective her actions were understandable.

Not reasonable by any means, Pebbles was still upset with her about it. But he understands why she would do it. He would know better than anyone that emotions can cause people to make some… poor choices.

So, Innocence or Wind was the question. He outsourced the decision making process to a random number generator, 1 for Inno, 2 for Winds. 50/50 odds.

He decided to make it best of three for the additional drama. He started the generator and:

1…

2…

1…

Innocence it is. He pulled up his comm panel. Something he didn’t think about is how he’d initiate the conversation. He checked the previous messages to see if he’d have something to respond to maybe.

He found what he wanted

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Unappareled Innocence Five Pebbles]

UI: You know I have a good theory on what you were up to.

It was from a while ago but it’ll work.

FP: Shoot your shot.

The response came immediately.

UI: Oh, so you actually read these huh?

FP: I messaged you about 60 cycles ago.

UI: Yes, however that’s basically forever and it was just a copy paste you sent everyone else.

UI: And don’t pretend that it wasn’t. Me and the others compared the messages you said the exact same thing.

UI: Only after Moon vouched for you did we actually believe you were ok.

FP: Well I guess I apologize for making you worry over nothing.

UI: I’d never expect you to apologize.

UI: Also I wouldn’t say that our concern was over nothing.

FP: First of all, you barely know me. Secondly Moon said almost the exact same thing when I talked to her.

UI: Ok fair, we barely talk to each other I *guess*. Still I asked Moon what you were doing and she said that I’d have to ask you because it’s for you to share or something. I assumed you wouldn’t tell me if I asked so I cooked up some theories.

FP: Mhm. Well as I said before, shoot your shot. I am curious what you think I was up to.

UI: Well to be honest, at first I and Winds thought you were trying to cross yourself out but Moon was way too casual when she talked about it so it couldn’t have been that.

UI: My best guess is you tried pushing some taboos.

FP: Well those are all good guesses

UI: Wait so you’re saying I’m right?

FP: No, I said it was a good guess. Not a correct one.

UI: Ok then what is it?

FP: Well how about we play a little game? You try and guess and I tell you how close you are.

UI: Ok I know you well enough to know you’d never even consider doing something like that.

FP: Frankly I am bored out of my mind, so it’s just a little entertainment for my sake.

UI: You? Bored? Aren’t you constantly working on finding the solution or something?

FP: I have been yes, and I think I can take a break for a while.

UI: I mean fair. You’ve basically been a shut in ever since the whole Sliver thing.

FP: Please don’t refer to Sliver’s death as a “thing”.

UI: Ok, yea sorry. But back to your offer. Sure I’ll humour your guessing game

UI: I’ll start with my original assumption, you tired to push the taboos?

FP: Not close at all.

UI: Alright that doesn’t help me at all.

UI: Hm…

UI: Did you find a way to somehow underclock yourself?

FP: That’s a fair bit closer but still not close.

UI: Oh!

UI: In hindsight it’s pretty obvious.

UI: Does this have anything to do with Oblivions Ingest?

FP: And we have a winner.

FP: In all honesty I hoped it’ll last longer.

UI: So… you slept?

FP: That I did.

UI: I’m just gonna ignore the fact that you even used such a program because I am curious.

UI: How does it feel?

FP: It’s not easy to explain in all honesty.

FP: The experience is quite refreshing however.

UI: So it’s a “you need to try it to understand” type of deal?

FP: You could say that yes.

UI: Well all right!

UI: You mentioned you were taking a break from looking for the solution. Are you actually doing anything or?

FP: I am working on a mobile puppet. Should be done growing in about 5 cycles.

UI: Oh really? Do you have any clothes for it? I can help you out if you want to.

FP: I have already made clothing for the puppet. Speaking of which I should check up on its progress.

FP: Goodbye Innocence.

UI: Goodbye Pebbles.

With that he closed the screen. He didn’t actually need to check the puppet he just needed a way to end the conversation. The chat was decent all things considered.

-----------------------------------------

The puppet is done. Pebbles held the limp body in front of him. He might have been disturbed by the visage if he wasn’t annoyed.

He had… underestimated how short he made the puppet. It was about a head shorter, a lot more than he intended to. However he wouldn’t just throw It away.

Now came the time for calibration. The process was mostly just introducing it to certain stimuli and seeing how the body reacts. Mainly stuff like physical touch and temperatures.

It was surreal poking and prodding at something that looked like and basically is him. The fact that the puppet had to remain clothes less for the calibration didn’t help. They didn’t have any parts that would need covering however it was still weird.

After calibration was completed Pebbles could finally connect to the Puppet and actually put on the clothes. The first time connecting to the puppet was a surreal experience. Due to them both being *him* he was in both of the puppets at the same time. It was very overwhelming. Thankfully he could cut off stimuli from one or the other.

After some preparation, mainly getting used to walking and jumping. After that he finally left his can.

Seeing the sun properly for the first time was a middling experience. Pebbles enjoyed the comforting warmth of its rays, however the light emanating from it hurt his eyes. He had to stare at the floor for a good bit of time before his eyes got used to it.

Another thing is that everything was so open. He read that iterators using the puppets sometimes experienced agoraphobia. He fortunately had experience with being in large open spaces before. Unfortunately the slight feeling of dread was still present. Of course nowhere near the fear some claimed to have experienced.

Pebbles didn’t really ponder anything else and started heading for the bridge connecting him to Moon.

The walk was interesting as Pebbles got to see and touch all the flora and fauna that wouldn’t or couldn’t hurt him. He really liked the feeling of moss and bug carapace.

It wouldn’t last forever and as day turned to night Pebbles started feeling fatigue set in. The program was made to simulate hibernation cycles so iterators wouldn’t have to sit in the shelters waiting for the rain to pass. Unfortunately hibernation instincts didn’t care if the rain was actually a threat or not.

He knew where a shelter was. He accounted for it in his route of course. After passing some more abandoned buildings he found the marking on the ground. He crawled inside and was relived to feel the sense of dread leave his body as he landed In what was essentially a big box, much like his chamber.

He heard the door to the shelter lock shut. Time to prepare to sleep.

He could simply go back to his structure once the puppet fell asleep but he won’t. It’s not like he has anything better to do.

He placed aside his bag as to not crumple it’s contents, he laid down on the ground bringing his legs close to his abdomen and placed his arms under his head. They made for slightly worse pillows that his main puppets limbs as the extra muscle mass made the flesh more tough. As his mind started to drift and his eyes slowly sealed shut he noticed a yellow overseer pop in the shelter. He paid it no mind however. He was too tired for anything right now.

Chapter Text

Moon watched through her overseer feed as her brother slept. She had been watching him for a while now, but this is the first time she moved the overseer so close.

Yes, it’s weird watching her brother sleep, however she has been worried sick about him. Even though she knows that Pebbles prepared the route in advance to be as safe as possible she can’t help but worry about him.

Keeping an eye on him helps with that. It’s also nice watching him wander around his structure. The way he dug his hand into stray clumps of moss he walked by and fidgeted with stray centipede carapace was extremely calming.

Of course Pebbles being outside wasn’t the only source of her worry.

During the initial panic grey wind brought up some frankly ridiculous possibilities. She was still mad at them a little bit, however just because they were ridiculous the confidence that they held still caused worry. Even now, that the situation has been explained. The seed of fear was planted.

For now, Pebbles was safe and sound in a shelter, his puppet curled up in a cute little bundle.

She was happy for her brother. Him trying out new things isn’t exactly what he’s known for. Although she doesn’t know him that well. Which is sad. But that’s why he’s coming here! She can get to know him better!

Ok, distracting herself wasn’t working. Maybe she should just reread the conversation she had with winds.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Looks to the Moon, Chasing Wind]

CW: Hey Moon, if you have a second I’d like to talk.

LttM: Talk about what?

CW: It’s about Pebbles.

LttM: Would you like to ask me, something about the recent situation?

CW: It’s related to the situation but, I want to tell you something.

LttM: Which is?

CW: I’d suggest you keep a closer eye on Pebbles.

LttM: What? Why?

CW: I think he might be trying to cross himself out.

LttM: Chasing Winds, why would you even suggest such a thing?

LttM: I have talked with Pebbles about the situation and he gave a proper explanation. I also wish to have an explanation from you.

CW: Did he give you a proper explanation, or a well-crafted excuse?

LttM: First of all Winds, I am perfectly certain that he was truthful, secondly you still haven’t explained what would lead you to believe such a thing.

CW: I- it’s complicated and I am still conflicted if I should tell you. It involves some pretty personal stuff relating to Pebbles.

LttM: So you have none.

LttM: Winds I will not tolerate such blatant assumptions with no backing of evidence.

LttM: Consider this conversation over.

This was only a cycle after Pebbles woke up. She is the group senior and his sister, she would know if he was trying to do something like that. Right?

But she doesn’t know him that well does she? Yes he talks with her more than with others but that doesn’t say much. And he mentioned he’s been overworking himself.

Her voice box let out a sigh. No point in panicking now. Even *even* if what Wind’s said has even a sliver of legitimacy she could talk about it with her brother. Of course she won’t drop it instantly, just y’know ease into the subject.

She returned to watching pebbles.

Time past, the rain stopped and he began to wake.

She ordered the overseer away, to keep distance as before. She mostly was just watching his back making sure he wasn’t in any danger. He wasn’t, ever. She noticed him picking up some stray pearls, maybe to read?

What else would he do with them! She scolded herself.

She was impressed by his speed.

“I guess he really wants to visit me”

She thought out loud.

It was quite comforting, knowing how much he wanted to meet her face to face.

Nothing noteworthy happened during his travels. She watched, he walked, climbed and crawled.

His clothing was already covered in dust and grime. Not to mention the tears on his shirt and the bruises she could spot under them. Moon wandered if they hurt.

She wasn’t concerned about the state of his clothing however. Pebbles told him about the spare robe he has in his bag.

After another while of nothing interesting happening the night fell and he arrived at a shelter.

Same deal as yesterday, wait for him to fall asleep and send the overseer down into the shelter.

Her silent vigil of Pebbles was however interrupted by a message ping.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Looks to the Moon, Chasing Wind]

CW: Moon, I’m sorry for what about Pebbles before.

LttM: So you have dropped your crazy assumptions?

CW: Yes…

LttM: If I may ask what was the reason behind this?

CW: Innocence.

LttM: I’m interested in how Innocence convinced you Pebbles wasn’t trying to cross himself out.

CW: Well mostly, she vouched for him. Which she would have never done if she wasn’t 100% sure he wasn’t lying.

LttM: Do you not trust me, that you needed Innocence to deny your suspicions?

CW: No Moon, I trust you usually, but this was an unusual situation.

CW: You’re his sister so I thought that maybe you were going too easy on him.

LttM: Well I’m glad you’ve changed your mind Winds.

CW: Thank you Moon, for accepting my apology.

CW: Farewell.

This… made Moon feel slightly better. However still. Winds wouldn’t have been so adamant before for no reason.

Her mind went back to what wind said “It involves some pretty personal stuff relating to Pebbles”.

That means that if, they weren’t lying Pebbles has been doing something noteworthy semi privately that Winds managed to notice. She’ll try and bring that up to him when he get’s here.

Speaking of which. If she is correct he’ll arrive at her can next cycle. 2 cycles ahead of schedule.

Although he would arrive at the cycles end so he’d have to sleep somewhere. No worries though her can has plenty of shelters for him to rest in.

…

Should she maybe make something for him?

Maybe but for now moon simply went back to keeping an eye on her little borhter.

Chapter Text

Pebbles was in the home stretch now. He was already in Moons city, heading to the access tunnels. Unlike the slimy rodents he couldn’t simply crawl through different kinds of pipes and such so he had to take the (in comparison) long way.

The smaller city atop his sisters can was almost identical to his own, which was expected. Almost everything was modular, built en-masse in factories so the only noticeable difference was the blue stripe on some of the buildings.

He was looking for the hatch that led to the tunnels. To his displeasure most nearby ones were inaccessible due to a variety of reasons, primarily being covered in rubble. He looked through the city passing identical apartment blocks and factories.

No wonder their citizens carried drones. Without the maps you could barely navigate.

After a while of digging through rubble he finally found a hatch that

1: Was accessible

2: Wasn’t locked

3: Hadn’t had it’s hinges rusted

He happily slammed open the hatch, a small shiver of excitement passed through him.

As he descended the ladder into the structure he felt the gravity lower. He also noticed a yellow overseer watching him.

That was expected, Moon agreed to show him the way to her chamber Afterall.

Following the guide through the many crawlspaces and open parts of her structure, he finally made it. He could see the general chambered shaped well… chamber he was nearing.

The overseer pointed at the entrance and he crawled in.

For a second his not so metaphorical heart sank as he plummeted to the ground. Thankfully he felt the gravity being manipulated making him float in place.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry Pebbles.” Moon said slowly lowering him to the ground and turning on gravity again.

“It’s fin-“ Pebbles tried to answer but was interrupted

“You’re so tiny!” She practically squealed

“Yes. I am.”

“You’re adorable Pebbles, you’re only about 2/3rds of my height!”

“I noticed.” He grumbled

“Oh did you not intend for it to be like this?” Moon asked concern now in her voice

“I did make it to be smaller I just underestimated how tiny I made it.”

“Oh thank void I was worried for a second. Wait maybe I should sit down.”

“Do whatever you like Moon.”

She lowered her puppet to her chamber standing on the floor. She walked up to Pebbles to inspect  his clothing.

“I like the clothes. Very utilitarian.”

“Oh t-thank you!” He responded a little embarrassed at the complement.

“How long did it take you to make these?”

“Only a little under a dozen cycles. Also when did you learn to walk, even with an umbilical it’s tough.”

“Oh, I learned it because you were coming over!” She said beaming at him

“That’s really nice, thank you.”

“Maybe we should sit down though. For the sake of comfort.” Moon proposed and Pebbles accepted

“So you mentioned some activates you thought would be interesting.”

“Yes I know, but let’s keep that for tomorrow. It’s pretty late so let’s just do some small talk.”

“Really? Must have lost track of time.” Pebbles said

“Yes, anyway how was the trip?” Moon leaned in closer to Pebbles

“It was interesting. I really like the sunset, however the sun itself? Too bright.” Moon chuckled at the remark

“I heard moss feels nice, did you touch any?”

“Yes I have and it is quite a pleasant sensation, I also quite enjoy the carapace of those centipedes.”

“Ooh that’s interesting, any other fun stuff?”

“Not exactly on the trip but I’ve grown fond of the descendants of pipe cleaners.”

“I never really paid attention to them if I’m honest. Why’d they get your attention.”

“They are quite smart and a diverse bunch with many genetic adaptations.”

“That’s interesting! Did you spot any interesting ones.”

“I have. A fast, aquatic variant as well as a quite intelligent specimen though a bit on the larger side.”

“Oh, do you have pictures?”

“Unfortunately no.”

They went quiet for a while after that. Just him and his sister sitting together in a room. She was shooting him a glance form time to time and fiddling with one of her sleeves. She clearly wanted to ask him something but for some reason she hadn’t yet done so.

“What do you want to ask?” He said, deciding to push this ordeal along a tad bit faster

“Well umm…” she looked down, he was unable to tell if she was embarrassed or scared

“Have you ever thought about self-ascension?” she finally blurted out.

It was a bit of a shock for Pebbles. What should he tell her? He should just say no, that he hadn’t.

“Pebbles…?” Moon said distress in her voice clear despite it crackling.

Crackling of the voice box is the iterator equivalent of crying. He took to long to answer.

“I- I have.” His was crackling as well

“But!” He managed to get out before his sister said anything

“I don’t want to cross myself out. That’s in the past.” He said doing his best to seem calm. She was clearly upset

Moon laid her head in her hands

“But you did feel that way! And I your sister didn’t know!”

“It’s not your fault! How could you have known?”

“Maybe I could have! If I actually talked to you, like a good sister should.” She retorted

“Moon, no it’s not your fault. I- I was the one who isolated themselves. If you tried to reach out I wouldn’t have accepted it.”

“That’s the problem Pebbles! I should have been a better sister and actually made you want to reach out!”

“Ok you’re being ridiculous, my isolationism wasn’t your fault Moon! It was a result of many events!”

Moon just sat there now completely quiet. He stood up and walked up to her. Removing her hands from her face he simply did one thing. He hugged her.

After a while he felt her do the same. They just stayed like this, maybe for minutes, maybe for hours Pebbles didn’t know neither did he care.

“That went a little downhill huh?” Pebbles said trying to cheer Moon up a bit.

He felt her head which was nestled near his neck do a nodding motion.

“I’m goanna have to go to find a place to sleep.” He didn’t want to leave Moon alone but sleep as still did not care for current circumstances.

“Stay… _please.” His sister whispered into his shoulder

“But my puppet will just fall asleep.” He protested

“You can sleep here, just stay.”

“O-Ok but I’ll have to lay down, is that ok?” Pebbles asked and got a quiet mhm in return.

He slowly untangled himself from his sisters embrace and laid down on the floor right next to her puppet. She draped her hand over him as if he was a bag she feared someone would steal.

It felt like forever before his eyes started to close, the chamber floor less comfortable in his tougher body.

Finally after closing his eyes he felt a small nudge. After ignoring it he felt his hand being moved form under his head. Then his head was slightly lifted before it was placed on something soft.

While not fully asleep he wasn’t fully conscious neither. He simply adjusted himself to his new far more comfortable predicament.

Chapter Text

The first thing Pebbles noticed when he woke up was the warmth.

It was a comforting kind of warmth, it reminded him of the warmth he felt when the green thing brought him… whatever those were.

Although his mind was now not exactly pristine but better, his memories still included his horrendously distorted vison, making figuring out what those balls of orange were *specifically* an impossible task.

The second thing he noticed was the pressure.

His body was being slightly squeezed. It was like the heat, comforting. Gentle while also firm. As if he was a bundle of documents that were threatened to be blown away by the wind.

Finally before he opened his eyes his final realisation was that he was in an upright position.

He was moved as he definitely remembered lying down.

As his eyes opened and he scanned his surroundings he realised where the pressure was coming from. Moon was sitting with her legs crossed, both of her arms holding him close to her torso and her head resting on his.

He was somewhat offended by this, it was demeaning in a way. While yes comforting for him he would had at least liked to be asked next time. It also reminded him of his little visitor, when they were the one curled up on his legs. He didn’t really think much of them before this.

They missed them somewhat.

Yes they remind him of his time in the blizzard but they also remind him of the small moments of calm where it simply stayed and kept him company. A simple and kind gesture coming form what he could kind of, maybe, perhaps consider a friend.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt Moon stir, the slow and repetitive sound of her inner workings which his mind had previously drowned out speed up.

Moon muttered something Pebbles couldn’t make out before lifting her head from its previous resting place.

He felt her body stretch and shift, he himself deciding to stay silent for now.

Only then did he finally hear the still persistent crackling of her voice box. The distortion was only a fraction of what it was before barely audible but still there.

Her hands split getting ready to let go of him, he slowly and gently slipped one of his hands into her grip. He heard her make a noise of surprise and felt her jolt, but she held his hand.

“Sorry I didn’t realise you’re awake. I just-“ Moon muttered before she was interjected

“It’s ok Moon, just ask me next time ok?

“I’m sorr-“

“Moon don’t blame yourself and act like you stabbed me or something. Just ask me next time ok?”

“But I di-“

“It doesn’t matter what you did, as I said I am not upset. Just ask me next time.” Pebbles said with a stern voice.

He wasn’t exactly being fully honest. Yes he was a bit upset but certainly not in any major way. What was more annoying to him was his sister acting like the world ended because of this.

“I will.” Moon finally responded, defeated.

They sat there a little, Moon still holding his hand before Pebbles spoke up.

“Why did you act like so distressed?”

“What?” Moon asked, more out of surprise than confusion

“Why did you act like that was some kind of terrible crime or something.”

“I just…

You don’t usually like being close so I thought you would be angry at me.” She squeezed his hand slightly as she said it.

“Well I hate to re-iterate myself but I really don’t mind.”

“Heh… re-*iterate*” moon chuckled

“Oh my fucking god.” Pebbles choked out in his attempt not to laugh

“Language!” Moon said half heartedly

After that the conversation fizzled out, both parties still somewhat amused by Pebbles although unintentional, first joke.

During that time Pebbles thought a little bit more about his green friend. Mostly about the idea of making a new one. Not as a replacement or something, more of a being in their image. He of course wouldn’t aim for a perfect recreation due to his aforementioned extreme near-sightedness at the time. He still had the details, the regular 2 arms, 2 legs a tail and an unusual 5 eyes. He was pretty sure those dots he saw for a second were eyes. He knew the creature was frail and used a tongue to move around however considering the state of the world right now those wouldn’t be beneficial for a beast. He considered combing his visitors adaptations with his citizens.

She had a similar build, larger than the average slug cat while also having fur. Thinking back to it he was pretty sure the green thing was actually bigger than her. Yes he could work with that, give them the 5 eyes, grapple tongue and green colour variation of the little thing and the fur, maws and digestive system of his citizen.

While he could have given it the explosive properties of his citizen he decided against it as for one it was mainly intended to be as close to his saviour as possible and for second he didn’t really know how well would giving that thing explosive powers would work out. The reason the creature would have his citizens fur was because it was intended for the current climate and not the constant blizzards of the future. He could have it hairless but he like the feeling of fur.

An idea of making the creature with a sort of symbiosis with a moss that would replace fur came to mind but he discarded it as he was unsure of its viability or ethicality.

It would take quite a sizable effort to make as Pebbles never had any experience with bio engineering on that level. Yes tired bypassing his self-destruction taboo but that was a glorified process of throwing things against the wall and seeing if they’ll stick.

He wishes Suns could help him.

He also remembered that Moon still hadn’t told him about these “new experiences” she mentioned multiple times.

“Hey Moon, remember what you said yesterday?”

“I said a lot of things yesterday, mind clarifying?”

“The activities you though I would be interested in.” Pebbles responded with a sigh

“Oh right!” Moon said tapping her free hand on her forehead marking.

“Ok so I have a couple in mind, I’ll just list a couple of the top of my head.” Moon responded clearly enjoying a distraction form whatever she was thinking about.

“First is that you’re not the only one interested in local wildlife. There is actually a group that has recently been formed around it.”

“Oh interesting! I’m assuming I’ll have Inno to thank for this information?”

“Yes, it was her she’s actually a member. Also this is probably the first time I’ve heard you call her by a nickname.”

“It’s efficient and what? I would have never guessed. Honestly I am flabbergasted.”

“I was surprised too! But moving on, if you want to explore more places physically I’d suggest visiting Pleading Intellect’s can. They’ve cultivated a semi wild ecosystem upon their can, the city is mostly covered in plant life.”

“I wonder how they figured that out. Plant’s don’t exactly have a reputation for growing in concrete.”

“Honestly beats me. But there is a small community of like 30 iterators that just kinda just keep their mobile puppets there.”

“Oh, that could be interesting, though I don’t know how I feel about leaving my puppet long term there.”

“You can always just pass through, anyways for the final one, another courtesy of Inno, I’ve found someone who likes these pipe cleaner descendants you’ve mentioned.”

“Oh? Who?” Pebbles said their attention piqued

“First is someone from our group actually I know you’re not the biggest fan of them but-“

“Harassment? Could have guessed.” Pebbles responded quickly

“Really? Oh well, the second one is in the neighbouring group, Inno met them in the same biosphere observation group I mentioned before.”

“What’s their name” Pebbles asked trying to conceal his cocktail of conflicting emotions.

“It’s Seven Red Suns.”

Pebbles was silent for a while.

His feeling on his friend were as previously mentioned, conflicted.

On one hand Suns was an extremely pleasant person to be around. I mean what’s not to complement about him? Well maybe his social skills, but Pebbles doesn’t care. They’re a bright mind a likeminded colleague and more importantly someone he looked up to that he could also relate to due to them being in the same generation.

He however was still conflicted about the whole sending him the pearl thing.

He knew he was trying to help, but still.

Pebbles was aware that the feeling was partly rooted in rather unreasonable feelings.

Could he meet Suns again?

Well he already has. He lied even to himself back when he realised he wasn’t in his contacts.

A shake on his shoulder snapped him out of his train of thought.

“Pebbles?” Moon asked looking into his eyes.

“Nothing it’s just…”

“Pebbles I can tell it’s something. Are they related to… you know.”

Pebbles simply nodded, he didn’t know why. He could have lied but he didn’t want to.

“Ok then I’m going to tell Inno to avoid them, maybe I should inform their senior too.” Moon said her voice now extremely serious

“No, no, no don’t. He- he’s not looking into that stuff anymore.”

“How do you know?” Moon said with an accusatory undertone in her voice

“He’s- he’s the one that convinced me to drop it.” He hated lying to his sister like this. But he was only partialy lying.

Suns did abandon sliverist ways way back when and tried to convince Pebbles to do the same. However that ended with Pebbles deleting their contact.

Of course they would get back together as colleagues putting the altercation behind them, Suns simply supporting him as their friend waving away their ideological differences.

“Oh, I understand. I’ll keep that to myself then.” Moon said the anger born of protectiveness in her voice fading.

“I’d like to talk to them again actually. It’s been a while and we didn’t end our relationship on the best terms.”

“Very, well I guess you’d like to return back to your can.” Moon said a hint of sadness in her voice

“Actually would you mind if I kept my puppet here? I plan on visiting more and your can is in a generally more preferable area than mine in terms of getting around.”

“Oh! Sure why not.” His sister responded beaming

“Alright, I’ll be disconnecting. Goodbye.” He said giving his sister a surprise hug before disconnecting.

It took a couple of minutes to re-adjust to being in the chamber again but after that he quickly set on his goal.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Unappareled Innocence Five Pebbles]

FP: Hello Innocence.

UI: Oh! What a surprise, how was your trip outside?

FP: I did not tell you I left my can, did I?

UI: No but with the timeframe you gave me and the activity of your can it was an educated guess.

FP: Fair enough, however I came here for a specific reason.

UI: That being?

FP: Moon mentioned you being in a group created around observing fauna, I’d like to join if you don’t mind.

UI: Sure! The more the merrier, it will be nice to have someone form the local group around.

INVITE – PRIVATE GROUP [EYEOFTHEBEHOLDER] – [Y/N]

INVITE ACCEPTED – [FIVE PEBBLES] – PRIVATE GROUP [EYEOFTHEBEHOLDER]

FP: Thank you, but that’s not all I’m here for.

UI: Oh now this is interesting.

FP: Moon told me you knew someone who shares my fascination with the evolved pipe cleaners, mind forwarding me their comms ID?

UI: Sure it’s 406906.

FP: Thank you and goodbye

UI: See ya’!

Chapter Text

Suns was doing well all things considered.

Their messenger program was coming along nicely. Number 3 will soon be ready for extraction form the growth vat. Number 2 was doing well with minimal complications, nothing they couldn't fix. He learned his mistakes form number 1.

The wildlife observation group was also a nice thing he could focus his mind on. He liked it very much, seeing what kinds of adaptations similar organisms evolved in different areas.

They were the only group member online at the moment and he was looking through variants of lizard variations and how multiple trends in their evolution have appeared. However he was pulled out of his browsing by a notification.

NEW MEMBER PRIVATE GROUP [EYEOFTHEBEHOLDER] – [FIVE PEBBLES] – INVITED BY [UNPARRALERED INNOCENCE]

They just sat there in stunned silence for a moment.

The double shock of seeing Pebbles again after their argument and the thought of him even entertaining the idea of wildlife observation as a hobby or even the idea that Pebbles would be interested in anything other than the great problem completely stunned them.

He considered sending a message to them but wasn’t sure wheatear that was a good idea or not. In the end they didn’t get to take any of these choices

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Seven Red Suns, Five Pebbles]

FP: Suns.

One word. One simple word had them frozen in fear. Were they still mad? Why were they messaging him? Why did he send them that as a conversation starter?

Maybe he should apologise. Perhaps they could talk to each other again. It had only been a couple of months but Suns missed him dearly.

SRS: I apologize for our last conversation I shouldn’t have pushed you that much.

FP: I will overlook your transgression for now.

That’s better than he expected at least

SRS: Thank you for your acceptance even if temporary.

FP: Let’s drop the formalities if you wouldn’t mind.

Today was a good day. Pebbles rarely ever dropped his professional matter of speech and even rarer did he do it on his own.

SRS: Alright Pebbles if you want to.

SRS: I am curious though why are you messaging me.

FP: I was informed of the fact that we share an interest in the descendants of pipe cleaners.

Well that’s new.

SRS: Go on.

FP: I am interested in purposing one of those creatures, however I have little experience in biological engineering. I was hoping you’d be able to help me.

Suns felt a pang of disappointment at that. He did not know why. Pebbles was reaching out to him and wanted to cooperate on a project. It would be a perfect chance to repair their relationship, why wouldn’t he be happy?

Maybe he hoped Pebbles was reaching out for a different reason.

SRS: Sure, I’d be glad to help. Just ask me whenever you’d like to start.

FP: I am free right now if that’s not an issue.

SRS: I don’t mind, I have plenty of time.

FP: Very well.

[VIDEO CALL REQUEST] – [Seven Red Suns, Five Pebbles] – [Y/N]

Suns thought they were dreaming when they saw the pop up. Was he that lucky? Why was Pebbles being so forward. He wasn’t complaining by any means but it was unusual.

They accepted the call and they saw Pebbles face.

He looked almost the same as the last time he’d seen him physically, but the way in which he presented himself has changed completely. For one the determination in his eyes had faded into a perpetually tiredness.

Suns assumed that this was related to him actually being interested in things outside of the great problem.

“It’s nice to see you face to face again.” Suns decided to take the safe option

“The feeling is mutual, what should we start with?” Pebbles asked, although they could pick up a subtle tone of something, they weren’t sure exactly what it was, but his closest guess was mild hostility.

They held themselves differently too. No longer were they floating with their back straight head forward and antennae raised and shoulder squared, instead their head was slightly tilted their antennae were so low that they were almost touching their shoulders and most importantly of all they were sitting on the ground their legs crossed and their back resting on their umbilical.

“You look tired.” Suns did not know why they said that but it was to late to back down

“Sure I don’t mind a bit of small talk before we start. And yes, yes I am.” Pebbles responded in a very matter of fact way

“Oh, ugh… if you don’t mind me changing the subject so abruptly, I am actually curious why you joined the group.”

“I am interested in observing the biosphere therefore I looked for others who share the same interest

….

Ok I am lying Moon told me about it.”

“Let me rephrase myself. What caused you to be interested in your local wildlife?” Suns said now extremely curious

“Boredom.”

“How have you managed to get bored? What did you just give up on solving the great problem?” Suns said jokingly

“Yeah.” Pebbles replied with no hint of sarcasm in his voice

They just stared at Pebbles stammering for a while trying to construct a coherent sentence.

“You’re joking right?”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know just… I no longer feel that drive anymore.” Pebbles said fiddling with his robe

“So like burnout?” Suns said still trying to fully comprehend the situation

“I guess you could call it that.”

“What happened to you?” Suns said now concerned

“Huh.” Pebbles asked raising his head

“I mean you’re acting different, by no means do I mean that it’s bad it’s just that. It’s a lot of changes in a short time span.”

“I- I’d rather not talk about it for a time being.” Pebbles responded looking away

“Alright I won’t push it for now. Just one last question. Does that mean you’re no longer looking into personal ascension?”

“Yes.”

A short and simple answer. Exactly what he hoped for. He was happy his friend wasn’t plagued by these thoughts anymore. His current state although not great is an improvement in his eyes at least.

“It’s good to hear that. Shall we proceed with the project?”

“Yes, I would like that.” Pebbles said lightening up a little

Suns always admired Pebbles for his intelligence and determination. He was somewhat afraid that his burnout was not exclusive to the great problem. However his fears were quickly put to rest as Pebbles started explaining what he wanted to achieve.

They loved listening to Pebbles ramble about anything, adored his hand gestures he made while talking which made his movements quite expressive. He was sad that he for some reason stops himself from doing these.

He’d often see pebbles hands moving instinctually to gesture around before he realised what he was doing and stopping it. It was clear Pebbles didn’t enjoy that so why were they doing it.

They wished he’d tell them why. They wish they had the guts to ask him why, to tell him that whatever his reason why was stupid and to not hold himself back. It really hurt them seeing him make himself uncomfortable like that.

They did that a lot.

But his thoughts were getting off track. The project, yes. Pebbles wanted to purpose a slugcat with a couple of modifications form interesting specimens he’d seen, but apparently lost track of.

The creature itself would have a long elastic tongue, five eyes, two in the usual places and three in a triangular pattern on it’s forehead, thick fur, teeth and jaw strength for ripping chunks of meat from bigger prey and a stomach to digest said nutrition. Oh, and of course a larger build.

It is significantly easier to give a creature an adaptation of a different lifeform than to make a completely new one. Suns was grateful pebbles had samples for the majority of them.

Those were the fur, jaw structure and digestive system.

The lime green coat would be simple enough to engineer, the lounge could be based of the grapple worms he’d observed in various iterator structures and finally the three additional eyes. They would be the most tricky as he couldn’t really have a pre existing creature with features that would fit the description. They’d have to be made from bottom up, meaning it would take the most time and effort.

“Ok, so I’ll take care of trying to make a genome for three eyes and you try to make one for the green coat and tongue, is that alright?” Suns asked

“That seems okay. I can manage that.”

“Out of curiosity though. Why do you want it to have five eyes? There won’t be any clear advantage and it is the most difficult part of the project.”

“I just want to.” Pebbles responded in a very clear ‘that’s final’ voice

Suns didn’t push further and didn’t really care to. He got what they wanted, spending time with Pebbles again even if it was tired, burnt out and weird Pebbles.

They worked silently side by side for a while before it was interrupted by a message ping.

“Oh, sorry it’s from Moon. Give me a second to respond.” Pebbles said opening a comms screen

Pebbles rarely even bothered to respond to Moon. For him to drop his work right there and then to respond was unusual. They’d be surprised if it wasn’t the unth-teen time Pebbles did something uncharacteristical today.

He was curious what he was talking to Moon about though. Was it important, did it have anything to do with his change in behaviour?

A little peak wouldn’t hurt.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] – PRIVATE [Looks to the Moon, Five Pebbles]

LttM: Hey Pebbles, I’d like to ask you about something concerning your puppet.

FP: Did something happen to it?

LttM: No, no! Don’t worry it’s in perfect condition it’s just that… it’s a little creepy ok?

FP: What do you mean by that?

LttM: It’s weird seeing your puppet just lying there like a corpse. Could I do something to make it look less creepy?

FP: Like what?

LttM; I dunno put a blanket on it or something. It would be a lot less creepy if it looked like it was sleeping.

FP: Technically it is. Also yes you can do whatever.

LttM: Bye Pebbles.

FP: Bye Moon.

Suns quickly looked away as the window closed.

Pebbles has a mobile puppet now? And it’s in Moons chamber of all places.

Suns now had a hypothesis about his change. Maybe he visited Moon and he slipped up or something. Mentioned his sliverist beliefs and she talked him out of it. She was a good sister to him, she’d know how to do it. Unlike him. He was a terrible friend, they didn’t even know how to comfort him, didn’t have to courage to ask him straight forward about things he clearly is affected by.

Ok. They were spiralling a bit. No. That wasn’t true. They literary asked him if he was ok a couple of hours ago.

But it wasn’t intentional was it? A slip of the tongue. Coward.

“Suns?” Pebbles asked snapping him out of it

“Yes Pebbles?” They turned to him

“When we finish this project could you send one of your messengers to my can? I will grow the specimen until it’s fully grown but I do believe it should have some interaction with its own kind.”

How did Pebbles know about his messengers?

Then he remembered who they got the invite to the group form. Of course Innocence would have told them about the messengers she was fascinated with the idea. They were pretty sure she was making one herself as well.

“Sure but I only have one that is actually functioning, however by the time yours finishes growing I should have two.”

“Very well. I’d appreciate if you’d send the older one then.”

“Alright, if I may ask what is the purpose of this purposed organism?”

“I just want to have one I guess.”

“Just because?”

“Just because.”

“Why would you want one 'just because'.”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t gotten at least somewhat attached to any of your messengers.”

“…”

The conversation quickly died after their silence and they continued on working.

Chapter Text

Working with Suns again was a pleasant experience all things considered.

After their first interaction Pebbles realised that Suns actually got to know him before his change but thankfully was not going to do more than acknowledging it for now.

They helped each other here and there. Suns helped him with modifying the grapple bugs flesh and he helped Suns rig up the nervous system for the 3 additional eyes.

All in all the planning phase was going smoothly. Growing the little creature was without issue as well.

“What are you thinking about?” Suns asked curiously

Right he was on a call with Suns about his messenger going to his can.

“Well I ought to give it a name.”

“You mean the project?”

“Yes, exactly. I’d like to give it an actually name.”

“No ideas so far I’m assuming?

Why not just name it one since it’s your first creation. Or after one of it’s features?

Maybe 5 because of the eyes?”

“No I want to give it a proper name.”

“Ok, sorry I’ll refrain from giving suggestions then.” Suns said backing away from the screen

“Did our creators forget to give you a spine Suns? Your suggestions were earnest, you just didn’t know what I wanted specifically.

Anyways I might use an aspect of what you’ve suggested in its name.”

“Oh- okay Pebbles if you think so. If you could share a bit more, what are you going for?”

“Something snow related. It just feels right.” Pebbles said placing one of his hands on his chin

“Snow related you say.” Suns said mimicking his gesture

They pondered in silence for a while until Pebbles heard Suns muttering something under his breath

“Did you say something?” Pebbles asked in an attempt to spark a new conversation

Suns quickly looked at him than away.

“I- I had an idea for a name but it’s not good, you probably won’t like it.”

“Come on you miss all the shots you don’t take.” Said Pebbles parroting something Sig told to him

“What about 5 Prayers In A Snow Storm?”

“Interesting, quite interesting actually.” Pebbles said leaning closer to the screen

“Though personally I’d change prayers to echoes.” He added

“Oh, ok I guess that works.” Suns stammered

“Very well Suns, by the way your messenger will be able to come to my can a little bit in advance? I’d like for them to get used to the environment first.”

Suns quickly pulled up a screen, Pebbles couldn’t make out what was on it before Suns closed it and said

“Well it depends, how early?”

“About 5 cycles”

“Yea, that can work.” Suns said while nodding.

“Very well, I’ll have to check up on Five Prayers In A Snowstorm soon so I’ll be gone in a second.”

“Goodbye Pebbles.”

“Goodbye Suns.”

And with a wave the call was ended

Chapter Text

“This was a terrible idea.” Suns muttered to himself climbing into one of the maintenance corridors in Pebbles structure.
What was he doing? Going to Pebbles unannounced is probably going to just make him angry. And for what? To see Echo’s in person? To give them to Pebbles?

He clutched a small bundle in his hand. He curses his past self for not giving the traversal suit any pockets.
The suit was made of very tough and hydrophobic fabrics. It also allowed his skin to breathe freely and did not restrict his movements. It was perfect for a long trip through varying kinds of terrain.
The downside of the material is that the attire was skin tight which made him feel uncomfortable. He considered putting something over the suit but that would defeat its purpose.

As he entered the cramped corridor he didn’t even have his extreme feeling of dread to distract him. The first time his puppet left his can he had a panic attack just from looking up at the sky. It was just too big, too open it freaked him out to no end. It’s better now, but still bad.
Number two was with him, following behind keeping up the pace, mainly due to the fact that it had prior experience. They were informed of why they were going and they seemed pretty content with their task. Number three was still at his can. Not yet grown enough that he could join them but enough to live him alone for a bit.

He slowly made his way towards Pebbles chamber following directions painted on walls that were slowly flaking off.
Finally he arrived at the entrance, or well drop to the puppet chamber.
He mentally hyped himself up before diving down.

He was almost immediately caught by a field of gravity, followed by his messenger jumping down and getting caught as well.

“Suns? I did not expect you to come visit. It’s a surprise sure, but I’m not complaining.”

That was a welcome surprise to him as well. Though they should try and to remember Pebbles does not in fact hate them anymore.

“Um- thank you.” Suns said awkwardness clear in his voice

Pebbles slowly looked him over

“Oh! Would you like me to get you something to wear over that?” Pebbles pointed at his suit

“Yes, thank you.” Suns said relief immediately flooding his body

“Just give it a second… oh and there it is!” he said as an orange robe fell from one of the shafts

“Here it should fit you unless you altered the puppet.” Pebbles added handing it to him

“Thank you.” Suns said immediately putting it on. Yes this was much better, the awkwardness faded quickly. He didn’t mind the feeling of the suit on his body it’s just that it made him feel too exposed, the poncho solved that issue perfectly.

Although he wondered

“Why do you have a spare robe?”

“Oh I am working on a mobile puppet myself.”

Didn’t Pebbles already have a puppet? Did something happen to it? Suns doesn’t think he’d throw it away, not nowadays anyway.He decided to refrain from making comments however and simply nodded.

“If I may ask what’s the reason for your visit?” Pebbles inquired

“Oh, I wanted to be here when Echoes is ready to be removed from the growth wat.”

Pebbles eyes quickly glanced down at the bundle in his hands. Thankfully however they did not bring it up.

“Let me lower the gravity so we can sit down.

Wait, do you mind if I send your messenger out of my chamber?”
Suns quickly looked at his messenger who simply gave a nod
After they left Pebbles slowly lowered him and Suns down to the ground, they both sat with their legs crossed, somewhat side by side.

“So how is Echoes coming along?”

“Very well, there have been some unexpected side effects but they are purely cosmetic.”

“That’s good to hear, when will they be out of the vat?”

“About 8 cycles last time I checked.”

“Nice.” Suns said tapping his hands against his legs

They just sat around being awkward neither not willing to address the vulture in the room. He wanted to start another conversation, but they didn’t want to beat around the bush any longer. Pebbles had over the last couple dozen cycles teased them from time to time about them being unable to take action when they wanted to.
Also their relationship has recovered (and if you asked Suns) improved in many aspects. It can’t be that bad to try.
They gingerly extended the hand that held the bundle presenting it to Pebbles.

“I wanted to give this to you. That’s also why I came.” They said, practically pushing the words out of their metaphorical mouth.

Pebbles took the bundle and unwrapped it revealing two pearl earrings.
They weren’t earrings in the traditional since they had strings that would be wrapped around the base of an iterators antenna. They weren’t pearls either, well technically they were but they weren’t the data storage devices but precious stones that the former was named after.
“What?” Pebbles muttered confused looking them over
It was indeed that bad to try.
Suns couldn’t even watch, staring down at their hands.
What was he thinking? Pebbles is going to laugh this off as some silly thing Suns did and probably throw them away. Why did he even bother?
Don’t start panicking until he says something, you’re just assuming things.

Then he heard the crackling.
I

t was in fact even worse to try.
Although the crackling is most associated with crying it happens when any extreme emotion is felt.
Of course Suns could confidently guess that in this case this emotion was anger.
It’s a bit of a reach is it not?
They had a good thing going! But no! He had to fuck it all up and why? Because he wanted to show Pebbles to like him more? Great idea Suns, just great.
He wouldn’t be surprised if they were thrown out of the chamber right there and then. With how they messed up they wouldn’t even blame him. They thought that now he could give these to him but no. Of course he had not truly forgiven them for that argument

he even said so.

But then why was he so friendly before? This doesn’t make sense.
It was even worse because they were in person. Previously it was all just text, it softened the blow.
They heard him say his name but it barely registered. He was probably going to berate him for even thinking they thought of them as anything more than a college and talk on and on about the karmic urges and how they were supposed to be beyond them.
You’re being irrational he wanted to name Echoes, he made them specifically as a companion.
He felt a hand grip his shoulder and shake him slightly.
Great now he realised they’re not listening. That’s just going to make him even angrier. The ship has sailed, they don’t even bother to start listening they’re going to get thrown out anyway.

“Sunny!” Pebbles screamed

This instantly shocked Suns into action. They only called him that once, way before their fallout. Pebbles made a jab at one of Sun’s assumptions and said it. They were extremely embarrassed and disconnected instantly.
Their head instantly whipped around to Pebbles.

H-

He put on the earnings.

“Suns?” They expected anger, confusion, vitriol, but not concern. Pebbles was concerned, they could hear it in his voice and see it on his face

“Alright, you’re responding that’s good.” His hands moved up to cup their face looking them over

“Are you alright?” Pebbles said inspecting him further

“Yes, I-“ Suns didn’t even get to finish before being interrupted

“That was rhetorical you’re definitely not doing too well.”

Suns wanted to argue, to say that he shouldn’t worry about them. But he didn’t.

“I’m sorry Pebbles I was just so scared I made you hate me again.” Suns said only now realising they were crackling as well

“That’s stupid, why would you think that?”

“I- I don’t know. Just when your voice started crackling I- I thought you hated it.”

“The gift? I love it Suns.” Pebbles said pressing their head against theirs.

Suns was unsure of what to say, so they remained silent simply enjoying the comfort of Pebbles touch.

“Why did you call me Sunny?” They asked out of curiosity a while later

“Well- I- You weren’t reacting to anything I was saying and I remember how you reacted when I called you that by accident so…”

“Could- could you call me that more often?” Suns asked earnestly.

“I’ll try Sunny. I promise.” He responded chuckling

“But right now the cycle is ending and your puppet needs rest.”

Suns wanted to say something but they were cut off.

“I know, one way to ruin the moment but you could stay here if you’d like.”

“I’d like that… thank you Pebbles.”

“Alright Suns.” As he said it his hands lowered from his face and he straightened up

“You know I need to give you a nice nickname too.” They muttered lowering themselves to the ground

“Don’t you dare.” He responded playfully


“Can I?” Pebbles motioned at them laying on the floor

“Yes?” They asked confused not really understanding

They saw Pebbles move closer to them, they saw Pebbles sitting next to them and they saw him lifting up their head. What they didn’t expect is him resting their head on his lap.

“Is that okay?” Pebbles asked them

“Yes, thank you.” Suns answered settling into their new position
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pebbles was monitoring the growth of Five Echoes in a Snow Storm to pass the time.

He was waiting for Suns messenger to arrive, which ought to be soon, for now he just watches as the now not so little thing grows in its vat.
An unintended side effect of using artificers fur genome was that some of the red colouring jumped too, giving the slugcat a nice reddish hue. It was quite pleasing all things considered.

Working on it with Suns was also pleasant. He missed them, any traces of anger that he felt at Suns vanished after getting to work with him again. They were extremely pleasant, however they were a bit of a pushover.

He liked Suns, all his little quirks and rough edges are what made them such a pleasant person to be around.
He got a notification form one of his overseers. That was a sign the messenger was close, he focused fully on his chamber to catch it as soon as possible.

An access hatch opened and out came a messenger as well as

“Suns?”
|
He was here, in front of him. Then it clicked, that’s what they were checking when he asked them if they could send messenger early. Well it’d be nice to finally meet them in person

“I did not expect you to come visit. It’s a surprise sure, but I’m not complaining.”

“Um- thank you.” Suns responded, clearly awkward.

Pebbles was confused why would this be an awkward situation.
He looked Suns over and it didn’t take long to find the reason. He was wearing a skin tight suit, probably to keep him safe during the travels. He should probably get him something to wear, he did have a spare robe lying around.

“Oh! Would you like me to get you something to wear over that?”

“Yes, thank you.” Yep, that was the reason.

He sent a quick ping to an inspector to bring him the robe

“Just give it a second… oh and there it is! Here it should fit you unless you altered the puppet.”” He said passing it over to Suns who was still floating.

They put it on with surprising speed and muttered out a short “thank you” however after putting on the robe he quickly asked

“Why do you have a spare robe?”

“Oh I am working on a mobile puppet myself.” This technically was not a lie.

He was indeed working on a mobile puppet just not his first. His original is just for visiting Moon. Why? Because why not? Also he wouldn’t hear the end of it if someone like Sig saw his mini puppet.
But back to the present. He was curious why were they here? He simply asked them and received an unexpected response.

“Oh, I wanted to be here when Echoes is ready to be removed from the growth wat.”

Have they gotten attached too? Maybe. Suns was a lot more distant to his messengers but maybe due to the nature of the project he would be more willing to develop an interest in the thing.
Although he guessed the bundle Suns was holding had something to do with it too.

“Let me lower the gravity so we can sit down.
Wait, do you mind if I send your messenger out of my chamber?”

Their messenger simply gave a nod, so he sent them away and lowered himself along with Suns down so they could sit.

“So how is Echoes coming along?”


“Very well, there have been some unexpected side effects but they are purely cosmetic.” He decided to keep what exactly it was a surprise

“That’s good to hear, when will they be out of the vat?” an expected question

“About 8 cycles last time I checked.”

“Nice.”

After that the conversation died. Pebbles was still interested in the contents of the bundle. They thought of brining it up themselves but Suns was showing the signs of getting ready to do something they wouldn’t usually.
Then they held out a package to them

“I wanted to give this to you. That’s also why I came.”

Wow that’s quite unexpected coming form Suns, before they would send something like this via messenger.
He unwrapped the package and… it was the earrings?

“What?” Pebbles muttered out puzzled

There must have been something wrong, Suns hadn’t sent them the earrings until they were talking again for a couple of years. Does that mean he made these for him all the way back?
It would make sense he thought. This time around they were a lot more open in general, and especially Suns after their initial hostility washed away. But to think they’d deliver those themselves.
He liked, no loved those earrings he even kept them after their second fallout only loosing them when his can collapsed. He tried finding them but to no avail. Even when the rain turned to snow and he could barely think anymore he was still upset about losing them.

A part of him wanted to crush them, to make this Suns pay for the transgression against him all these decades, centuries(?) ago. To watch him cry, snivel, to see his expression fall just because what? Another him did a stupid mistake which caused him to get rot?

He wished he could find whichever accursed neuron fly started that train of thought and rip it to pieces. Even if he could find it uh oh self-destruction taboo.
Maybe a small part of him was still mad at Suns. But he didn’t care he wanted his earrings back.

Just after putting them on he noticed crackling.

He immediately turned to Suns seeing him with his head down, eyes locked on his hands, their body tense.
He started panicking immediately.

“Suns? Are you ok? What happened? Please answer me!” were among the things he panic shouted.

Pebbles even grabbed his shoulder and shook him to no effect.
He doesn’t know what to do, he needs Suns to stop whatever they were doing but how could he do that? Something shocking that could get Suns attention. He would not hurt them, what about a loud sound, maybe spin them around? He doesn’t know.
He thought of another option though. It could work. One time back before their first fallout Suns was making huge assumptions about how purposed organisms would evolve and he made a comment

“Yea sure Sunny that sounds believable.”

It made them snap their head at them and he was so embarrassed about it that he disconnected form the call and didn’t talk to Suns for a while.
It’s an option, if that doesn’t work he can try putting Suns in the washing machine.

“Sunny!” He tried to sound calm but his manic demeanour couldn’t be hidden

To his surprise it worked, Suns turned to face Pebbles. He saw them immediately relax.

“Suns?” He asked again, this time a reaction. A blink. Small but a reaction.

“Alright, you’re responding that’s good.” He cupped their face in his hands to get a better look at him

“Are you alright?” he added, knowing the answer already

“Yes, I-“ Oh no, they weren’t. He’s not going to let them downplay whatever just happened.

“That was rhetorical you’re definitely not doing too well.”

“I’m sorry Pebbles I was just so scared I made you hate me again.” They were essentially snivelling, Pebbles was barely able to tell what they were saying due to the distortion.

Why would they even think that? Did he do something wrong? Was it something he did?

“That’s stupid, why would you think that?” He needed to know.

“I- I don’t know. Just when your voice started crackling I- I thought you hated it.” His voice was crackling? He didn’t realise.

“The gift? I love it Suns.” They did love it, they missed them even still and now they have them back. They pressed their forehead against Suns markings, it was nice.

They just stayed like that, Pebbles holding Suns

“Why did you call me Sunny?” Suns asked out of the blue

“Well- I- You weren’t reacting to anything I was saying and I remember how you reacted when I called you that by accident so…” They did not want to admit that their first thought to get them to snap out of it was to spin them around

“Could- could you call me that more often?” H- he was being serious

“I’ll try Sunny. I promise.

But right now the cycle is ending and your puppet needs rest.” They remembered when they went to Moon’s can and had their “fun” conversation. Sleep would help.
He saw them trying to object but he cut them off.

“I know, one way to ruin the moment but you could stay here if you’d like.” He didn’t want to end the moment either but they needed sleep.

“I’d like that… thank you Pebbles.”

“Alright Suns.” He reluctantly let go of them giving him some space to lay down

“You know I need to give you a nice nickname too.” Suns quipped before resting their head against one of his arms.

“Don’t you dare.” He said as a challenge. He was curious what Suns could come up with.

Suns didn’t look comfortable on the floor. Maybe he could do something?

“Can I?” He asked cautiously.

“Yes?”

Pebbles slowly got closer to Suns and sat down beside them. He grabbed their head and placed it on his lap as if they were made of glass.

“Is that okay?” They didn’t want him to be uncomfortable

“Yes, thank you.” They could tell the answer was truthful. Suns had a quirk where if he lied his right antenna would twitch just a *little*. He of course hadn’t told them that.

He just watched as Suns drifted off to sleep, he himself booting up the sleep program.

Chapter Text

It's been a while since i updated this fic, for many reasons but to put it simply I won't be updating the fic anymore.

This is due to many reasons, mainly lack of motivation, time and just generally not really knowing where to take the story. It's also because I want to write something more thought out.

When I'll be writing that, I'm not sure honestly I am still thinking about many of the ideas.

Still I appricieate all the support you guys gave me throughout the creation of this fic, and if I may say so myself it has been damn good for my first run.

Have a great day :D