#lettucekitty

Nova deserves to have times when she doesn’t have to be the hero. Also S5 and S6 are just... they don’t exist ok. Except marriage. That exists.

MC = Enyo

It was supposed to be a nice day, but the Empire had made it clear early on that it found such things morally abhhorent. It was fantastic, really.

We had been out on a date in between a supplies run when Empire soldiers spotted us and gave chase. Now it's a firefight between us and almost a dozen goons.

To make matters worse, I’m the only one returning occasional fire, as a lucky shot managed to hit Nova square in the shoulder a few minutes previously. Even my wife, for all her superhuman abilities, can’t shoot with an injury like that. She's leaning against the dumpster and I can see she was breaking hard. Her pain tolerance is incredible, but speaking from experience, without adrenaline a bullet wound that direct is beyond anyone’s capabilities to shrug off.

Which means it’s up to me to get us out of this alive.

EnyoGreat.

I manage to send a few shots in the Empire’s direction, mainly to keep them from approaching, then duck back down to hurriedly scrape together a plan.

I search my pockets for anything and brush over something small and hard.

EnyoPearl!

I had forgotten I had taken the tiny bot out of the Promise. Good thing for me I did.

While one of my hands deals with Pearl, I put the other one around Nova, taking care not to jostle her injury too much.

Enyo“I’ve got you, love. I just need you to get ready to run.”

She nods, panting. Her skin is taking on a concerning ashy tone. Definitely no time to waste, especially given what running might do to how fast she loses blood.

Nova“I trust you.”

Her faith warms me. I help her get into a crouching position, supporting her as best my smaller frame can manage. 

I whisper to Pearl.

Enyo“Pearl, holograms.”

It had been really good that I had thought to include this feature, even if at the time it had just been intended to be a way to flex my mental muscles, a new challenge. 

Dropping the bot on the ground, she scuttles away at the speed of a human runner. Hopefully the soldiers won’t notice it and realize my rouse.

At the appropriate time (I gave her about forty-five seconds delay), I hear the soldiers yelling and the stamping off feet as they give chase to a hologram copy of me and Nova. I peek out from behind our cover to see that it’s clear.

Enyo“Time to go, Nova.”

Bracing her as best I can, we run through the streets toward the ship hangar as fast as we can manage. We’re both ready to collapse by the time we get there, but we make it.

Atlas takes one look at us and scowls, hands already getting us prepared to take off.

Atlas“Vacation my ass.”

Orion“Atlas, why are you...?”

He trails off as he walks into the bridge, seeing Nova and me. His eyes hone in on her shoulder.

Orion“Go patch her up, Enyo. Atlas and I will figure out where to pick up supplies.”

Enyo“Got it.”

I lead Nova to our room, helping her sit down before fetching the first aid kit.

It takes a bit of time and some warm water to get her out of her shirt, but I manage to clean it up. It’s still leaking a bit of blood, but I have her hold the washcloth against it while I spread medi-gel on some gauze. Switching the cloth for the gauze, I work a bandage around her arm and chest to bind it in place.

It hardly looks professional when I’m done, but it’s good enough. I look up to meet Nova’s eyes and she smiles at me.

Nova“My hero.”

I blush.

Enyo“Well, you can’t always be expected to save the day. Hardly seems fair.”

Nova chuckles as I pull her close.

Nova“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I pull us up so that I’m leaning against the headboard, Nova’s head resting on my chest. She snuggles in, which gives me warm fuzzy feelings all over.

We stay like that, warm and content, for who knows how long. I don’t feel like checking the clock, it’s not like it would motivate me to leave anyway.

My stomach, however, is much more skilled at persuasion. I remember that our date, which was intended to be lunch, never actually happened as my stomach somehow let out a noise I wasn’t sure humans could even make.

Nova laughs.

Nova“Is it time for a late lunch, then?”

I bury my face in her hair.

Enyo“Nooooo... I wanna stay.”

Then my traitorous stomach gives another indignant wail. I sigh.

Enyo“Ok, fine, but once we’re done we’re coming back and not moving for the rest of the day.”

Nova chuckles as she leans up to peck a kiss on my lips.

(Letting you folks know ahead of time that there will be mild discussions of anatomy and sex, especially in relation to gender).

You sent me this prompt ages ago, and I’ve been sitting on it for months-- and not just because I’m lazy.

It just strikes me as such a complicated question, really, and responding to it requires a lot of heavy thinking on my part.

The 5 changes one? Sure, it’s fun so I’m definitely open for more prompts!. :> Though I’ve only played So Long My Love, so that’s gonna be my focus.

Okay, first I would... completely change Diana’s character arc. As I understand it, she’s only sick and paralyzed because her Pneuma is so powerful that she’s super sensitive to death, and her resulting negativity basically makes her powers destroy herself? But then she’s still dying even after having her change of heart, even though she can magically walk again? There’s a bunch of inconsistencies in her chapter and romantic arc that really don’t work for me at all.

SO INSTEAD. She’s still sick and paralyzed, but rather than her exceptional Pneuma killing her, she’s actively using it to keep herself alive. She can’t join the team because she’s scared that if she loses focus and starts using any of her powers for other things, she won’t live much longer. Her one exception is using her powers to heal her bird friends - that’s how much she cares about them. Her chapter would still be about her struggle to live, and her reluctance to trust others after spending so long surviving with only her own strength. The happy ending is: when she does decide to fight, the birds she healed with her Pneuma come to her aid, returning the bits of power she gave them and helping to refuel her. Inspired, Shinjiro leads the team in doing the same, and share their own Pneuma with her so she doesn’t destroy herself. It’s an imperfect solution - she’s still sick and needs a wheelchair afterwards, and has to rely more on medical science to compensate, but she’s hopeful. Her friends all work to share her burden, and Diana starts studying medicine herself to some day find another cure for her illness.

OTHER THAN THAT, I’d give some more information on Subaru’s back story in her route. Not a lot - Subaru wouldn’t offer that information easily - but enough to establish that they’re estranged and the ‘why’ is related to Subaru’s identity issues, or maybe how they felt about working with Ratchet. That kind of small thing would go a long way.

Geminine remains present and active even after her and Gemini’s chapter. It isn’t fair that after a chapter establishing that she’s longed for a life of her own and her motivation is avenging the one person who saw her as an individual, she totally disappears outside of Gemini’s occasional musing.

Stop... everyone’s misgendering of Subaru... I don’t know how much is the translation’s fault (since at least the gendered pronouns were totally absent in Japanese), but it doesn’t matter. Stop it all. :T

They just agreed to have the superbaby, which... ugh. I didn’t like the plotline, hoped they’d figure out a different avenue, anything. It’s just a hot mess that makes no sense and ignores potential avenues that would make so much more sense cause like that breakup was completely OOC for MC, the whole making up was cringey at times, and that superbaby didn’t need to happen.

They took an amazing, endearing, lovely character with so much potential and so much to explore and have missed the mark entirely. They gave her literally the worst route in SP. I don’t like Antares at all, but at least his route made sense and matched the characterizations they decided to give MC and him (whether or not I liked those is another story, but consistency I can appreciate). 

In the past few centuries, the human race has met and mingled with a few distant life forms. Not in the sense of intermarriage– not usually, though there have been a few oddball cases– so much as odd little retroviruses and microscopic symbionts that have integrated themselves into the interstellar travelers and carved out a little niche for themselves within human DNA. The changes they’ve made are small and hardly noticeable. Most of the time.

But anyone standing in that room (or honestly, within several hundred feet in any direction) could affirm that the sound coming out of Rita is not entirely human.

“Chance Sequoyah?” she says when she’s capable of forming words again. “The Chance Sequoyah? The Coyote of the Painted Plains?” 

“Uh… yes?” One of the outlaw’s arms is thrown protectively in front of Mary-Anne; the other is busy hanging on to her hat. 

It’s a testament of Moonshine’s character that the horse didn’t bolt. 

“Oh my gawsh!” Rita practically leaps at her. “I’ve always wanted to meet you. You were on my top ten list of people I’d most like to have dinner with, right next to Nero and Malala. Ooh, I’m so excited. Can I get your autograph?” 

Chance never actually learned how to sign her name, but she isn’t about to say as much to this bizarre stranger. Besides, before she has the chance to even consider, Rita waves her off.

“Oh, but I didn’t bring my autograph book! I shoulda known. Next time, for sure. Ooh, and I bet you’re Mary-Anne!” 

Mary-Anne, at least, has an advantage here. She hasn’t been staying with Chance and the children for very long, but by now she’s grown accustomed to being shocked by outrageously familiar behavior from total strangers. This one seems fairly friendly, at least. 

“I am,” she says. “And what’s your name?” It feels a little strange to speak to this woman like she’s a child– she easily has a few years on Mary-Anne herself– but it seems appropriate. 

“I’m Rita. And I’m your biggest fan. I’ve seen like all the adaptations of your stories. I especially love the one where you were played by Charlene Riddle, and Chance, you were played by Cory Brighton. Oh my gosh, that one was soooo romantic!” 

I’m thrilled that more people are asking about Chance and Mary-Anne recently. These ladies deserve so much love.

We are looking into Chance’s childhood here, so be advised that there’s references to child abuse.