[ChicletPrime]

the tapioca between my ears has been hallucinating HARD over this story. all these intriguing little bits everywhere.

and we are coming up to some sort of conjunction to do with "the light of the dead planet is just reaching us" or words to that effect that was in one of the radio transmissions, i think the one at the end of the main story sequence. so if the plan involves re-igniting the dead core of future-Philos, using all the power harvested on past-Earth, i guess that's where the countdown comes in. It's just coming into alignment and everything has to be ready.

[Coldsaturn]

I'm curious to know what you'll think about my theory around the dead Philos we see through the Deepspace Tunnel, once you're done with all the main lore :D

[ChicletPrime]

i am looking forward to So Much once i get through the main story cake and can start inhaling all the icing.

[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 10: Heart's Crossing

• another vaguely ominous chapter title.
  
• i didn't notice before really, but back wall of Caleb's apartment looks like it has a projection of the Deepspace on it. data points, what looks like mapped areas...
  
• oops, girlfriend caught a common cold. ah-choo!
  
• Caleb's moving stuff in or moving stuff out? What's with all the boxes, gege?
  
• you decided your apartment needed more stuff. because... i'm here? and i need more stuff? but i won't be here for more than a few days, remember? oh yes, i do plan to visit, for sure. as if i'd leave you alone to eat your own cooking.
  
• and all is right in the world. 
  
• okay, now we have an apartment robot! ready to bring us snacks and drinks as needed.
  
• i have such a guilt complex because Caleb's smile is so warm. how could i possibly suspect that face of wrongdoing.
  
• (flashback to the remnants of Viper's face. yikes.)
  
• i am.. so terrible at lying. 
  
• aaaand its not going to work anyways because brotherly intuition (and my froggy throat) says i'm getting sick and i guess its back to bed for me? 
  
• whoever designed his sweater should be taken around back of the fashion house and shot. 
  
• aha? there's a weird fluctuation in the Tunnel, the Wanderers are all riled up and Skyhaven will be under lockdown tonight while "we" do a clean. I assume Fleet.
  
• yeah, that's MY job! isn't the Fleet supposed to be flying or something? Doing Fleet things? 
  
• yeah, lets not try and lie our way out onto the streets tonight, i just cannot handle Disappointed Caleb face when I get caught out. 
  
• oh, i CAN'T go out, hey? who died and make you my bos... ooooh. bad sister, no cookie.
  
• "Nothing's more important than your safety."  oh, that is such a good line of doublespeak. you continue to impress Caleb. "Please stay here {name}. I can't do any more than this."  whoever is writing this dialogue should get a pat on the back.
  
• at least i'm catching on that he's a little too cheerful and hiding something. LIKE EVERYTHING.
  
• ooh, finally i get a little serious! grab Caleb by the chin, make him look at me and directly accuse him of lying.
  
• wow. okay. forceful little girlfriend. you get a little sick, you get a little impatient? 
  
• aaaand the volley clears the net on the return! "What about you then?"  
  
• really Caleb, the gun is just to make me feel better when I have to raid the fridge later.
  
• "Do you remember what I said? Leave it to me. I won't break my promise to you." 
  
• i do trust you gege, i do. but so far everything you have said to me has at least three layers. 
  
• For some reason, this version of Caleb feels like a stranger.  I WONDER WHY.
  
• oh man, pinky swear.  this is so grade school, i love it. i can just imagine the cross talk on a battlefield between these two. "Caaaaleb, slow dowwwn! You're going too fast!"   "C'mon pipqueak, stretch those little legs of yours, I know they reach the ground most of the time!" *picks her up with evol so she's not touching anything for a hot moment*  "Oooh! When I catch up, I am going to shoot you in the ankle, see if I don't!" Meanwhile, guns and evol are going off in a nearly unseen blur and the two guys back in the ops centre can't even track the kills, they're happening so fast. Caleb is not in the lead, but its close.
  
• so we're still stuck in the apartment and can't see a way to leave just yet to go get Kevi and meet with Zayne. and the phone service is out, this is a pretty big lockdown.
  
• ooh, creaking door at 11pm? nobody's in the living room though. let's find our gun.
  
• ack. Caleb! um.
  
• ohhh shit. he's in his uniform.  (so hot)
  
• we lie about wanting a glass of water, so one assembles itself, floats over and arrives with two white pills. uh oh.
  
• i don't think the lie worked, girlfriend. i am pretty sure you know it too. right? 
  
• aaaand she just swallows the "meds" because she doesn't want him to worry about her. 
  
• i am so dumb sometimes.
  
• snoozing the snooze of the drugged and somehow still trusting
  
• He reaches for her face, hesitates and then touches her hand instead. "If I kept you here with me like this... would you think I'm being too selfish? But it's only us now." 
  
• oh, Caleb. i am pretty sure that your gravity is her gravity. she just hasn't accepted it with her awake brain yet, like you have.
  
• PUT A RING ON IT IF YOU'RE GONNA HOLD HER HAND SO GENTLY LIKE THAT
  
• i think this is the first overt moment we've had and i'm unconscious for it.  sounds like a perfectly natural basis for our situationship going forward, to be honest.
  
• "Let's say I had noticed these threats that were lurking around you earlier... knowing then what I know now... none of this would've happened, right?"   uh, i don't think you're talking about Viper from yesterday are you? 
  
• very VERY cool shot at what i guess is his transport arriving.
  
• HOLY SHIT. okay, a lovely highlight on the back of his uniform jacket and there's red stitched wings in the design! I SAW THE COSMOS TRAILER i know what those are or will be! eeeee, fan-freaking-tastic. nice little homage.
  
• okay, it was really hard, but i got a screenshot of the message coming in on Caleb's wristband and "Cleanup operation begins shortly. Awaiting Colonel's orders."  oh, noes. not only is he involved, he's in charge. i knew it but i didn't want to know it, you know? 
  
• good god, he loves her so much. 
  
• "Don't worry. This nightmare will come to an end. I promise."
  

and we're onto the second chapter of Homecoming Wings. i bet you thought we'd never get here. i have all day off tomorrow though, so be prepared for five chapters at once.

[Coldsaturn]

"you decided your apartment needed more stuff. because... i'm here?"
I can't remember now where it's mentioned (phone call? A card? a headcanon I just made up?), but it has to do with MC complaining that his place looks so empty, and him making it look more and more like a proper home because she's back in his life now and he can do more than just survive.

"snoozing the snooze of the drugged and somehow still trusting"
Welcome to the second instance of "no Raf totally wasn't going to leave you sinking in the ocean while he beat up the wanderer", this time: "no Caleb - your loving CHILDHOOD FRIEND - totally didn't drug you, that was proper medicine for the cold and you know the side-effects can make a person drowsy"

"i think this is the first overt moment we've had and i'm unconscious for it. sounds like a perfectly natural basis for our situationship going forward, to be honest."
This sums them up.

""Cleanup operation begins shortly. Awaiting Colonel's orders." oh, noes. not only is he involved, he's in charge."
Yuuuuup. Time to go and kidnap a kid.

I am absolutely ready and prepared for the onslaught of Homecoming Wings pt.2
Remember to check the chinese version of the chapters you play with him!

[ChicletPrime]

- are you telling me Caleb is *nesting*? that's... so on brand. high acheiving rising meteor of the military branch, eats his subordinates for breakfast, makes his direct superiors incredibly nervous for lunch, has a locked five page report about him somewhere with words like 'acceptable collateral damage' and 'civilian casualties' for when and/or if he goes rogue... who panic orders four fluffy blankets on 24hr direct shipping because his meimei expressed dissatisfaction of the texture of his couch in passing.

- i love your overview of a general fandom that i am completely unaware of. did you notice (of course you noticed) that the pills were ready? that he opened and closed the door without actually leaving to lure her out? he knew she was going to be up to something that night because it was probably written all over her face and he knows her. Caleb has probably tried to be two steps ahead of everything his entire life.

I wonder what "Final Cleanup" really means in its entirety. I guess we're about to find out!

Night Unending
Chapter 1: Awakening

• only 182MB for this one.
  
• excellent. lets start off with a dream/flashback of Caleb-of-then, just to establish how much i loved him and how much i missed him when he was gone.
  
• "Caleb, stay where you are!" don't move dont move don't go please don't leave me
  
• aaand its morning. cold meds, man. they really take it out of you. i feel worse now than when i went to sleep For Some Reason.
  
•  /stares at ceiling. calculates about 35% chance the girlfriend actually realizes what happened
  
• /wins that bet handily
  
• yeah, there we go. several missed calls from Zayne. sorry, beloved, i got ambushed.
  
• ohhhhh right, KEVI. and Zayne's not answering which.. actually isn't technically ominous but is still ominous to me. What if Zayne tried to go get Kevi himself while the Fleet was doing their sweep? 
  
• hey, the apartment does look more lived in now! there's stuff on the floor and everything. throw pillows on the couch!
  
• hiii Caleb! and Caleb's hard chest that i've just run straight into. weird question. did you knock me unconscious yesterday and like, kiss my fingers? asking for a friend.
  
• "Caleb's emerged from the bathroom. Steam is still coming off his body."  Tragically, the on-screen visual is just him in his dumb sweater. This should be towel-around-the-hips, damn it, or at the very least old cotton shorts where the band is slipping just a little. 
  
• /employs active imagination in lieu of
  
• i lie SO TERRIBLY. gawd. just embrace blunt honesty girlfriend.
  
• news channel says Kevi 'has been rescued by the Farspace Fleet.' well, damn it. 
  
• Caleb, you casually smooth motherfucker. alsooooo, his haaaaands. 
  
• "... I notice the faint scent of something metallic."  hmm? that's an odd thing to notice during breakfast. "almost drowned out by the fragrance of his shower gel, it reminds me of blood." 
  
• sadly, since i have been watching the intro trailer for a month now, i know whereof metal and blood. Caleb, Caleb, Caleb. what did you doooo last night? 
  
• awww. she's worried that he got into a fight, that he might be hurt. i love this dynamic; even when she's trying so hard not to harbour suspicions (she's harbouring so many suspicions) she's still ready to pat him all over for injuries.
  
• she doesn't even take his word for it and checks his hands. i guess Caleb has/had a thing for using his fists? 
  
• a cold hand to my forehead and my fever, she is gone, broken in the night. i had a fever? 
  
• oh crap. i was talking in my sleep, calling for him. (calling for him to come back, not to leave)
  
• ah, my heart.
  
• girlfriend you are a terrible liar. i have got to stop mentioning that but ooooh, frustrating.
  
• Incoming Message For Colonel Xia. 
  
• what the everloving fuck. Mia's DEAD?
  

/reels back a little. like, wut? what the hell? she was FINE. injured, but fine, under medical care in a state of the art hospital.

• oh Caleb, you better feel that like a knife in your heart, if you let that happen. if you ordered that to happen. i will never forgive you.
  

[ChicletPrime]

in further news, the stuff that Caleb sometimes says in the café is a little creepy. i love that for both of us.

Chapter 2: Funeral

• Zayne also suspects something is askew. the medical records are too clean and there's nobody who actually saw the death.
  
• maybe she's not actually dead? just disappeared into a medical lab somewhere? 
  
• Zayne's interest in this begins and ends with me, it seems.
  
• so they found the very deceased parents on Joseph's.. ship? truth or plant? 
  
• aaand Kevi has been adopted to a new family. 
  
• yeah girlfriend, that was super smooth and clean. sister and parents dead, now placed with no doubt a different, more loyal Fleet family, the protocore fragment confiscated but they have the kid under lock and key now that could use it. 
  
• okay? Kevi's at the funeral with no trace of the crystals on his face anymore. that's very... something. and his face shows no grief.  oh, this is not on. what is going on here?
  
• oh fucking HELL. The Professor is the kid's new adoptive parent. i should have guessed.
  
• yes, i am pretty sure its our fault Kevi got caught, and apparently has now had his synapses rearranged into a new and pleasing configuration for his new masters.
  
• oh fucking hell. is it the brain chip thing that Joseph was wailing about? wouldn't explain the sudden reversal of the disease but that's a separate question.
  
• hello Colonel Xia. care to explain your involvement in this spectacular set of events? 
  
• "How's Kevi doing?"  your concern is noted, thank you, if a little too late and a little flat.
  
• (oooh, i'm mad. girlfriend, you still trust that face? although, honestly? if its somebody else's sister on the firing line, I don't think Caleb would hesitate more than a heartbeat, and only that much because of the similarities. his concern also probably begins and ends with me.)
  
• (also, i am so sorry, but this uniform is just doing it for me. maybe because of the code switch in his voice and demeanour. maybe because he just looks so good in black.)
  
• yes, please suspect the man! at the very least, he could find out more for you, that you have no access to even as his adjunct.  not that he would, but you don't know that exactly yet.
  
• i want to rip that collar off him.
  
• another incoming tranmission, just as he wants to take me away from this. so conveeeenient.
  
• "No matter what happens, I can always trust you, right?" 
  
• loaded question. let's see the volley.
  
• "Of course."  stare into his pretty flower eyes and tell me what you see.
  
• (utter devotion, the adamant belief that he knows more and best, the crazed panic of trying to keep the loose cannon that is you away from the firing squad...)
  
•  with the amount of touching he does to her, i think everybody in the Fleet knows exactly what the Colonel's new adjunct is there for.
  
• 1) if the Farspace Fleet caused the explosion, why? 2) how much does Caleb know? 3) what is the story about how he became part of the Fleet? 
  
• A) to arrange things before the Philos conjunction is my guess, likely to do with Spatium 2) only as much as he needs to be told to keep him in line 3) you were there. it was an explosion and a missing brother disappeared for a long, grief stricken year
  
• oh. oh crap. hell, even. Caleb's got a chip too, doesn't he? did his new masters threaten to give me one too? 
  
• /headdesk.  do i have a chip too? maybe that's why i lie so horribly.
  
• "Unless the kid has something more valuable."  bloody hell, Viper! 
  
• i have got to stop talking to myself out loud about things i should not be talking out loud about.
  
• "cracks and blotches decorate his face."  NICE.  i might have terrible suspicions about my brother from another mother, but he's MY brother from another mother and he can fuck up more shit than you can imagine, faster than you can imagine it so back OFF, snake boy.
  
• THERE WE GO. "Lots of people want an aether core but only a select few can handle its power without being devoured. finding individuals like that is incredibly rare." 
  
• SYLUS I CAN HEAR YOU LAUGHING ALL THE WAY IN SKYHAVEN. we are alike, my right eye indeed.
  
• so aether cores are hard enough to find as it is, but plugging them into the right socket is also a project i take it.
  
• uh. so. the hit is out on me now? 
  
• okay, i'll bite. if he's not Ever's assassion or somebody just after an aether core, then which correct answer am i not seeing here? 
  
• "I'm Caleb's friend. You can call me Viper.... I'm here to lend a hand." 
  
• at this point, maybe... maybe not the worst idea to take him up on it? i mean, he's going to lead you straight down the dragon's throat, but maybe you can steal some treasure along the way. 
  
• BINGO! "Don't you want to know what the Fleet and Caleb are really up to?"  this is me, grip on gun but nodding.
  
• oh no. is this little metal disc what i think it is? "go and see for yourself" and then he tosses me a Wanderer summoning device? and a time and an address.
  

The plot is starting to tighten up with straps.

[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 3: Lurking

• Okay, so we go to the address provided the next day. and it's surrounded by white mist/clouds. isn't that what happened in Chansia, when me and the boyfriends got trapped in an overlaid betacurve reality? 
  
• Oh, okay, my bad. the little disc is a security bypass'er so over the back fence I go like a sneak thief.
  
• like, i'm using up my holiday time for this. 
  
• hey, Kevi. just.. .just checking on you, little friend. how are you? 
  
• what's with the bird in your hand, kid? 
  
• /okay, that makes me remember a poem called "Formal Application". I'll post it somewhere after this.
  
• "If I break its wings, it can stay here forever. It will die very quickly though."
  
• yup, Formal Application it is. what the hell did they do to you? It's only been days, maybe less than a week even.
  
• "The Professor says if we damage the bird's neuromuscular system it won't be able to fly. But it will believe it can. Slowly it'll get used to its life on the ground. The bird will then forget that it's supposed to fly."
  
• this is horrifying.
  
• and Kevi will have many brothers and sisters instead of his one dead one and he'll be strong.
  
• fight it, little guy! although i know you can't. hopefully whatever they did to you is removeable or reversible.
  
• oooooh, robot voice. fight, Kevi! don't let the Control Program win! 
  
• it's a bracelet! i can deal with a bracelet. 
  
• "I shouldn't forget!"  ooooh. well now. Isiah? "The chip... rereading... inputting memory..." 
  
• nuts, it IS a chip. okay, well if i smash the bracelet, i have no idea how it interacts with the chip. Zayyyyne!
  
• creeeeepy!
  
• eeek, i am about to be discovered! back over the wall, ninja style.
  
• "I see you're struggling to restrain the fragmented consciousness that isn't yours."  fucking hell. they've implanted a Wanderer into him... along with the Control Program for both? or the protocore fragment itself maybe. which would make the Spatium abilities native to Kevi if he can contain it. 
  
• oh no. wait. The Professor is trying to make it sound like he's trying to get Kevi to reject his actual memories and emotions as false?  TO THE CN TRANSLATION! that will probably make this segment clearer for intent.
  
• /hides face.  hiii caleb.
  
• at least.. at least he didn't know about Mia ahead of time. 
  
• yeah, lets not get too attached to the mundanes, shall we? they are incidental to the process.
  
• clean up is nearly complete. salvaging is ongoing but they'll pick up the pace. caleb caleb caleb you are breaking your sister's heart.
  
• "The plan will be starting again. You must ensure that she doesn't interfere with it. Otherwise I won't be able to keep this a secret for much longer."   "She won't." 
  
• i need more coffee. this is intense.
  
• ("If that day truly comes, and she discovers everything-- I'll keep her hidden. She'll be in a place where no one can find her.")
  
• yes absolutely lets immediately dial for backup. but i am still quasi convinced the upper echelon of the Hunters Association is just the Everlasting crew, part deux. or part trois, i guess.
  
• don't tell me not to extract the kid for my own safety. good gravy, are we the good guys or not? 
  
• did they.. did they just type in "mind control chips" into SkyGoogle?  /facepalm
  
• i am so sorry, girlfriend. yeah. your brother was not only aware, but likely very, very involved. what are you going to do?
  
• "They probably have goals that extend beyond obtaining Aether Core fragments."  gotta have power and power conduits for a purpose, yeah? question is, what.
  
• I'm still wearing Caleb's necklace. oh. wow, even. i forgot to give it back, i've been so distracted with work. i wonder how Caleb felt every time he saw the chain peeking out around my neck.
  
• Valour is the better part of asking for forgiveness instead of asking for permission? or words to that effect.
  
• HE SOUNDS LIKE MY GEGE STILL.
  
• oh, okay. so we are going to invite him out to spend time like we haven't been because i've been so busy, and like, we should go watch a type 1a supernova from thousands of light years away.  that is a thing you can just do in Skyhaven? stare at dead exploding stars for funsies? 
  

oh, this shit is about to get very real, methinks.

[Coldsaturn]

- are you telling me Caleb is *nesting*?
ashdalskdjasdj Truly the omegaverse fics basically write themselves with him. Canonically a puppy. A puppy that could bite your throat off, but a puppy nonetheless.

- yes I'm sorry sometimes I read stuff on socials and I'm left with the urge to point it at someone and go "Are you seeing this, too?" Even if you don't see it, the sentiment behind it is what counts.
Like that post from someone genuinely and innocently and heartbreakingly asking "Why is Caleb holding back with MC, it doesn't make sense if they're just childhood friends, where's the problem?"

- Tragically, the on-screen visual is just him in his dumb sweater
Petition to make the characters actually wear what they're supposed to be wearing. This goes together with matching the light with the description.

- girlfriend you are a terrible liar.
It's in these moments that I totally believe the young innocent MC I made just for Caleb. I had to change her face, this can't be the same person who flirts with Raf and wants him to call her Master.

- the stuff that Caleb sometimes says in the café is a little creepy
He's that sudden dissonant note of doom in an otherwise cheerful melody. And you get that note every 22 seconds.

- oooh, i'm mad. girlfriend, you still trust that face?
SAAAAAME.
You have two choices: believe she's stupid. Believe she's just as /insert adjective/ as he is, which twists her priorities to be something completely unrecognizable.

- this uniform is just doing it for me.
You and me both...you and me both.

- with the amount of touching he does to her, i think everybody in the Fleet knows exactly what the Colonel's new adjunct is there for.
asdalskdjsakdasfd LOL
Do we think he told people he has a sister at all? Or he carefully avoided the topic so MC absolutely looks like his partner?


And then there's the whole Chapter 3 you commented on that is so packed full of very important info I can't select individual lines to reply to.
Put a pin on everything.

[ChicletPrime]

feel free to entertain me with the hot takes collected fresh from the bakery of the fandom. you can vent, and i can vicariously enjoy while i shake my head sadly. so far i think the main story could have pushed a number of things farther, but it is the main story and this is a romance game. gotta leave the kids something to cling to in the murky waters, i guess.

you'd think for the amount of money this game has to be raking in, they'd assign a couple of more people to "ambiance". get a few more specific idle animations going, tailor a few chapters a little better to the actual shenanigans.

i am going with option 2 -- she's just down in that foxhole clutching his dog tags and listening to no shouted orders from her cerebrum in a desperate attempt to just survive the beachhead assault. also a fair amount of just blind faith that no matter what she thinks she knows, Caleb would never do her wrong, no matter what he does to anyone else.

man, fanfic idea. what if she saw some of that growing up (sorry, i have read no Caleb cards) where his streak of ruthless pragmatism lazy slipped along his surface, flashing a razor fin before submerging again. bonus points if Grandma is there and know exactly what she's seeing And Has Horrendous Guilt About Her Involvement In Creating A Monster (Non-Crystalline™).

second ficlet idea -- something from the point of view of a lowly lieutenant watching the Colonel with his new toy at his elbow during Fleet Ops. At least until the toy does something very bloodthirsty and they have to rethink their assumptions.

hmm. good question. i guess i'd want to take that a step back and ask a previous question - does Caleb enjoy that this is his sister in the eyes of everyone else? His family, his to take care of, his in ways that play along a sense of rightness that he was born to go first, to snap all the branches in the way so she could walk clean in his footsteps. or would Caleb shed that identity as if it was a shackle, an ill-fitting if necessary lie, but they don't need that protective coating anymore? this is a sincere question by the way, tell me how you see it.

emulator died again. had to uninstall, reinstall, redownload the game and i'm busy patching it right now. 9%, baybee!