I like you sahsrau 👀✨ can we have more of it?
I'll probably go in region order bc if I don't I will forget who I have and haven't done-
But if you want a specific character, just request some in an ask and I won't mind. Max of 5 characters though.
Herta Space Station. Where 2 individuals awoke and b̵̢̛̻̙̗͚̝͚̥̣͕̆̉̊̌͆́ę̵̮̲̺̘͖͖̦̫͗̅̏͌̀̃̀̀͘g̸̰̜̠̰̞̉̽̈́̅͂̄ä̴̧̝͇͇̝̗̩͚́͆͛͝ͅn̵̡̯̙͇̼̣͍̪͂͛̔̀̃́ their journey across the cosmos. A place very recently attacked by the Antimatter Legion, dedicated to the Destruction.
Perhaps this is why you also found yourself awakening there, though already aboard the parked Express. Perhaps THEIR theory had some merit after all.
The head of the station is a busy woman, constantly juggling the academic and social issues from the researchers, whatever work Herta deems below even her puppets, and even more so after the security breach.
It isn't until a while after your awakening that she manages to actually meet you. There was gossip, sure. That a mortal incarnation of the being that shaped the universe was found on the famed Astral Express, while ported in their station. As if she didn't already have a millions missives directed her way...
That being said, there is something celestial about you that puts any doubts the astronomer might have at ease. There's no fear in your eyes as you wander the station. Whether that's because you believe the threat has been eliminated, or because you don't believe even the Legion would harm you? It isn't clear. Asta isn't even sure you know.
Still, it isn't often she gets the chance to speak with you personally. Expect her to have either Arlan or Peppy trailing you whenever you set foot on the station. Expect welcoming gifts any time you visit, expensive enough to make you sweat a little. She won't even notice.
For a non researcher, she sure does seem to dissect you with her eyes from across the room. Hint, she's mapping out constellations on your skin. Be it freckles, pimples, moles...she doesn't care. Any mark or blemish is just an undiscovered star. And Asta has always wanted to find stars that haven't been discovered and named yet.
As the one who feels particularly at fault for the invasion, he's constantly a little paranoid that you may be hurt by some straggler. Just one intruder he or his department missed, one enemy that attacks the first person it sees. After so long, would any follower of Nanook even recognize you before striking?
Meeting you in person gave him the same crushing sense of relief and hope that he had experienced in his younger days. A hungry child that was willing to fight people he didn't know FOR people he didn't know if it meant earning something to eat. Asta and her family took a chance on him, and now he was someone the station trusted to keep them safe.
And he failed at that. Sure, he did everything in his power. He saved people, even was willing to sacrifice his life if it meant protecting what staff he could. But the fact remains that some people died, and even more were hurt in some way. He can't fail like that again.
He had a second chance, his new beginning. And he will die before he loses it. Arlan, the more he sees you as an Aeon and less as a human, will start fusing his perception of you with his gratitude for his place in life. If anything happens to you, he'll die at best, and lose everything at worst.
He cares about you deeply, of course. As much as idolization will allow. You're entirely perfect. Which is why, as someone who has only been able to fight and not learn like the others, he will dedicate every bone in his body to protecting yours.
Really? All that fuss, and the Beginning is just a human? A squishy meatsack like the rest of them? Not even a bizarre size?
For a while she's unimpressed, even seeing your existence as less interesting than the prospect of a person with a Stellaron inside them.
Ah. But what if the two correlate? What if you only made your appearance because of an intact, contained Stellaron? Oh, had the Destruction found a way to place direct essence into a weaponization of matter???
This hypothesis needed confirmed before anything else. But even she doesn't have direct access to the Cancer of All Worlds...
Off you go on the Express now, go on. She's sure you'll come across one eventually. And you make sure to come right back as soon as you do, okay? She'll even let you have top priority when you return. No waiting, no leaving a message. She's even set your specific number to alert her immediately when you text, bypassing the bot that sends messages for her.
It's a very special privilege to be able to contact a genius so readily, so don't abuse it, okay? Though, if you sprinkle in discoveries you make about your existence, she may be willing to chat a bit. Only for you, remember.
And just as she predicted, you have a much different aura about you by the time she meets you in the flesh. Perhaps it's the time in Amphoreus, a land filled with 'divinity', but you hold yourself with the presence of an Aeon, now.
Someone who knows their companions would slit someone's stomach open merely because you asked them to, just to see if they would, and feel no guilt.
Droidhead suddenly seems much less impressive. She's wanted the Aeons to ask a question of her for a while now, tired of constantly being the one to seek answers. Herta feels those questions in your gaze, before you even open your mouth. She feels dissected, rearranged, and put back together with a single look.
It's a bit addicting, actually.
Oh, and the way you listen when you ask her something and she answers! It isn't like her to get so excited. It's out of character. It's wrong.
And that is precisely what makes it so fascinating. Just how dangerous will your presence be if this is after only a handful of encounters with a Stelleron? This isn't even a percentage of what you once were.
She tried to recreate you in the Simulated Universe, sending the Trailblazers (as your constant leeches companions) through over and over again, just to see how your AI acts, and growing more and more frustrated when it doesn't live up to the real thing. Maybe she needs more time to study the original in person...
