Storybook of the Stars

No News is Bad News

Cogsmead; Caelestis (District; Space Port)

Pix; Present

It was official. There were no interesting people on this side of Caelestis.

False had given him false information, haha. There was no way that the rusty pile of scrap metal and brick she gave him directions for actually had someone living in it, let alone someone with a story worth broadcasting.

No matter if it would catch Xloy's attention or not, whoever inside had something to tell. Everyone in this region of space had some story to tell, whether it was interesting or not was questionable, but he would listen either way. And that was really where his heart was.

Not sniffing out the latest gossip or betrayals from people like the ghost kid with his blue sheep thing or the blond kid claiming to be his brother. Not researching the ethical issues and benefits of destroying dead worlds because a certain goat hybrid thing decided he wanted to clear out space. Not traveling out to the site of black holes to get witness statements of what happened and finding strange creatures with armor and calling themselves letters like X. Now that has been a weird trip.

He just wanted to preserve the stories of people. Simply as that. He wanted to chase down the stories of people from the past, wanted to find the mysterious phantom that haunted his dreams and whispered tales of old when he wasn't listening. Pix would have been more than happy to sit down with the two women from years ago, one of whom had given him the directions to the building he was now standing outside of, and hear everything they had to say about their story.

Right, that's where he was.

A crumbling down building with some kind of ivy - how had that managed to grow here? - crawling up the sides and a low glow coming from the visible windows. The door was made of sheets of metal with carvings that were too small for Pix to make out from where he was standing, the bricks that built up the walls showed the usual drawings, graffiti, and notches carved into the corners. Metal supports were built into the walls, holding the building upright and connected to its neighbors.

It looked like any other building on this side of town, cold and closed off and very much unlike the warm atmosphere of the Sageus outpost with the blacksmith rabbit guy who had offered Pix a cup of tea when he first arrived. The air here felt stale, even though he knew that wasn't right, and there seemed to be some kind shiftiness to the energy of the area, like it was constantly moving and changing in density. Which, again, shouldn't be possible.

Pix forced themselves to take a deep breath and knock on the door, half expecting no reply to his calling. But surprise surprise, someone was inside. And they were telling him to come on in.

The inside of the house matched the outside, fake brick walls with rusted metal holding the supports in place, sheets of newer metal covering holes in the walls that looked suspiciously like they were made by explosions. Pieces of ivy were peaking in the sides and paper littered the floor, the only clean spots were worn tracks in the floor where someone had obviously pushed the papers aside. There seemed to be flecks of blue things floating around in the air and stuck to the papers on the ground, a quiet hum just out of perception filling the air.

Even stranger than the building itself were the two inhabitants, one standing in front of the other who was sitting on one of the tables. Well, the one on the table wasn't really a who. It was more of a what.

And that "what" was really giving Pix pause.

Maybe False hadn't actually turned them around or sent him on a wild goose chase for fun. It wasn't everyday that you saw a skeleton covered in a blue slimy substance. Or the decidedly not normal being sitting in front of it.