Roleplay

Wally nodded and smiled silently, deciding to remain quiet for a while. He sat back, admiring the stars once more. He thought of many things, some mundane, some a bit more serious and complicated.

Whenever they would come across an asteroid, he would keep his gaze locked on it, watching as it passed by. He'd always wanted to see asteroids up close. They were talked about by some as harbingers of destruction and the end, seeing as one wiped out the dinosaurs.

He looked over at the sleeping Kitter, finding it adorable how he was now curled up in his seat. His eyelids were ever-so-slightly heavier than before, now that he thought about it. As much as he wanted to battle sleep in order to gaze at the stars some more, he knew sleep would help far more than staying awake the entire trip.

Besides, it wasn't like this was the last trip he was taking through space. No, it was only the first. There would be so much more to see.

He attempted to get in as comfortable of a position as possible in his seat. It wasn't easy, but he didn't complain. After giving a little yawn, he was finally beginning to drift off, his eyes slowly closing with the surrounding galaxy mapped out in his mind.

((OOOooooooo he looks spooky, I love his design! Poor Kitter though, this is gonna be interesting hehe))

As they slept, plenty of distance was traveled. The pod was for sure getting 'tired' but it kept itself stabilized. It'd had to travel on a nearly empty tank before with merely energy from sleep. It wasn't completely mechanical after all.

When it reached a distance that it felt was a good place to wake them, it spoke up, far less quietly than a whisper, "Landing in fifteen minutes."

The sudden voice spooked Kitter from his slumber and he jolted awake with a hiss, nearly hitting something on the dashboard. He frantically looked around as if he was expecting to be attacked, but soon realized he was just in the pod with Wallace. The alien growled under his breath and slowly got up, making an odd noise as he stretched. He hadn't slept very comfortably, but it was better than something as hard as concrete.



(( Thank you! Yeah- Kitter tries not to get within arm's reach of his soldiers, which had been mostly successful. So far, at least. ))

As the pod grew closer to their destination, Wally slept soundly for the most part. He murmured something every now and then, but it wasn't clear whether he was awake or not. Eventually, PET announced they would land in fifteen minutes. Unlike Kitter, he didn't jolt awake right away.

In fact, he seemed to be far too deep within whatever dream he was having. Or was it a dream...?

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, eyes squeezed shut and muscles tense. He emitted a small whimper in his sleep, shivering. "W... why're you all... staring..." he murmured, slurring his words.

He twitched a bit, inadvertently causing the stone in his pocket to fall to the floor. It landed moon-side up, and there was something off about the stone; the moon marking was glowing dimly.

((Oh boy, watch out Kitter, stay safe-))

He looked over at Wallace and guessed the pod hadn't woken him up. It had, of course, been much louder for himself. His ears turned back as he heard him speaking quietly in his sleep. Maybe he was having a nightmare? Probably.

He noticed the stone had fallen from the boy's pocket, but he didn't see that it was glowing. Kitter was more worried about him. He carefully stepped over to him, "Wally? You okay?" He asked in a hushed tone, not wanting to startle him too much, but at least wake him. He knew he himself didn't enjoy nightmares... They were usually pretty haunting. The alien gently patted Wallace's shoulder with his hand.

He glanced down at the stone to make sure he wasn't stepping on it... Well that's interesting. He thought. It must have something to do with... Oh-
Kitter took his hand away and stepped away from the stone cautiously.

Wally's hands shook as the nightmare slowly grew worse. He let out a somewhat louder whimper, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. "Don't wanna remember," he whined quietly. "They... hurt me... I-I don't wanna remember!"

The stone's glow brightened ever so slightly. The tips of his fingers blackened, coated by a shadowy substance. It steadily inched its way over his hands, only stopping when Kitter placed his hand on his shoulder.

Startled, Wally's eyes flew open, and the darkness disappeared entirely. The stone went dark once again, the glow fading completely. The boy gasped, taking deep breaths and attempting to focus on his surroundings. He was shaking, looking as though he had seen a ghost.

Blinking, he slowly moved his head to look over at Kitter. He rubbed his eyes, remembering where he was. That made him feel somewhat better.

"Oh! Hey, Kitter," he greeted, putting on a mostly convincing smile. "I'm okay, really! I just had a nightmare, that's all... they happen sometimes. Thanks for waking me up."

Glancing at the floor, he caught sight of the celestial stone. He quickly reached down and scooped it up, stuffing it back in his pocket. He chuckled nervously. "Heh, must've fallen right out!" he commented. "I guess I really do move around in my sleep. I never knew for sure."

His eyes narrowed at Wallace's hands with concern after the mysterious darkness faded from his finger tips. Even the pod seemed distraught by it, its lights flickered on once they were both wide awake.

"You..." Kitter decided not to finish what he was going to say and just blinked at him a few times. "You're welcome... Nightmares are rough." He watched Wally quickly stow away the stone, which he managed to notice wasn't glowing anymore. That definitely connected a couple thoughts in his head.

He hated to pry into possible past trauma, but he needed to know, "I have to ask... You said something concerning while you were in the middle of that. Was someone trying to get to you in the past?" If there was someone there trying to hurt him, he wasn't going to be taking him back to Earth. He'd be safer with him.

Wally nodded in agreement with Kitter's statement. Nightmares were rough. Sometimes, they were more than that, but it generally wasn't an experience he liked having more than once. He hated that he had to go through it here, right after his dream of journeying out to space had been fulfilled.

Sighing to himself, he sat up straight in his seat, noticing the lights had flickered back on. He looked over at Kitter the moment he was asked a personal question regarding something he had apparently said in his sleep. He didn't know what he had said while asleep to raise Kitter's concern, but it must have been really bad.

I did ask PET about that emperor... I guess I kinda owe this to both of them.

But are you really strong enough to tell them everything? You've never been able to tell anyone. You always start crying before you can even start.

He flinched upon registering the intrusive thought essentially warning him against trying to tell the truth. He convinced himself this was different; Kitter wasn't going to judge him. Not like anyone else would if he said anything.

"...Yeah," he finally admitted, looking down at his lap. His throat was already tightening up. This is a bad idea, Wallace.

"It's all kinda... scrambled, but... I remember people. More than one person. They... w-wanted to..."

His breaths shuddered. "There were... um, there were needles, and... sharp things? They found me, a-and I had to h... hide..."

The boy shut his shimmering eyes, shaking his head. He swallowed, putting all of his focus on preventing himself from breaking down into tears. He frowned deeply, drawing his legs towards his abdomen and hugging his knees.

"...I'm sorry," he muttered. "Didn't mean to bring the mood down. I just... I don't wanna go back."

He stared at him in the eyes, though it wasn't intentional. He was thinking deeply and not even noticing he was staring unblinkingly at the boy. It was a silent few moments as he pieced together the broken words. He believed that Wallace was dealing with some sort of PTSD, he'd seen the signs of that too many times before. Just look in his eyes was very telling.

Kitter approached him again and crouched down to be at his level, placing an arm over his back in semi-hug as he spoke, "It's okay Wally. You won't ever have to go back if you don't want to. No body will force you to either, I'll make sure of it. Thank you for telling me." He gently patted his back, trying to comfort him, "Some... People or something were going to... Experiment on you perhaps? That's what I am understanding from what you said... We don't have to talk about it if that's what you want. I'd just like to let you know that I can relate to those fears."

Wally couldn't control his shaking at that point. He couldn't believe he'd managed to get all of that out. He should be proud of himself, for being able to get that far. At the same time, the memories from before were surfacing, so he was anything but proud of himself.

He wasn't, because if he ran sooner, maybe none of that would have happened. He wouldn't have ended up desperately crawling through the woods on that cold night, struggling to fight off the effects of a sedative as his knees gave way and the darkness rushed to meet him-

His head snapped up the moment Kitter approached him. The darkness in his eyes gradually faded as he stared at the alien, focusing on the comforting arm draped over his back. He told him exactly what he wanted to hear; he never had to go back if he didn't want to.

Upon being asked if those people were trying to experiment on him, all he could do was nod shakily. What kinds of experiments they wanted to perform, he had no idea. All he knew was that he never wanted to find out, especially not the hard way.

He recalled the brief conversation he'd shared with PET not too long ago. The emperor hunting Kitter wanted him for 'scientific' purposes. Experimentation. They were both running from a similar threat, coming from two different places. He didn't want to make an extra comment on that, since he promised PET he wouldn't bring up what they talked about.

He managed to smile tearfully, his eyes growing wet. "Th-thank you," he stammered, relaxing somewhat. "We... we're gonna stay safe, right? No ex... experiments?"

He was relieved that Wallace was beginning to calm back down and compost himself, but he didn't pull away just yet. He slowly nodded his head when he was thanked.

"Right. No experiments. I'll do my best to prevent that ever happening."

The pod interrupted Kitter's thoughts, "Approaching atmosphere."

Kitter glanced at him before looking out the windshield. The hologram was gone and a large planet with a small spire sticking out from one side was directly in view. That spire structure looked very small from where they were, but being seen from space, it must have been massive up close in person. Celreon's surface from afar was a blend of oranges, reds, and yellows.

He quickly pulled away from the boy and went back to where he had been sitting. He looked back at him once he was seated, "Now you should definitely hold on tight. Entering the atmosphere causes a bit of a jolt."