[FRAG] Keep A Secret

Morning Star ran a hand through his hair. Everything felt a little too warm, a little too tense at the moment. Was it anxiety, was it something else? He couldn't quite pin it... maybe that was concerning. He always considered himself fairly good at reading his own emotions. 

"Wow, you're totally pale!" Roseline leaned forwards onto the railing, "Are you nervous? I know Kollane's not a great sailor."

"I usually am," he replied dryly.

The boat gently swayed side to side, the tilting just barely as the waves bobbed it up and down. Maybe it was the overwhelming sunshine that was making Morning Star overheat so badly. Was it normally this warm in AA-91?

"You were really cool at your Overseer ceremony," Roseline continued. 

"Th-Thank you."

A wide grin broke onto their face, "Man, what I'd give to be an Overseer! I probably couldn't do it the way you did, though. That was so badass. You just like beat them up until they listened to you. AND you got a Blessing out of it!"

Morning Star closed his eyes. "That's very nice. When are we disembarking?"

"Aaah, don't like the ocean? Yeah, I feel you. When you get up into the upper double-As they're mostly like, liquid Magninium oceans. So it fucks up your teleporting, and then you can't-"

"-Yes, I know that, Magnotris told me about it before I left."

"Oh, right!" Roseline smiled at him. "Well we're almost to the shore. It's just past starboard."

"Which side is that one again?"

"Right side!" they pointed in the general direction. 

Morning Star blearily blinked and turned to follow their finger. At least the ship was empty save for him, Roseline, and Kollane - who had been assigned to pilot it. Having only two people to contend with right now was good for him.

Still, though.

"You know what," Morning Star muttered, "I'm just going to sit down until we land."

"Go right ahead!" Roseline encouraged.

He gently lowered himself, eyes still scrunched in concentration as he folded his legs. The rocking of the boat was still obnoxious, but it was a bit easier to deal with now. Maybe he shouldn't have worn his usual formal outfit. Maybe he was just nervous about today's meeting. 

This was his first real Overseer mission, after all. And, in a sense, he was still reeling from everything that had happened. It almost felt like it'd all gone too fast - his descent into paranoia, and then the attempted coup, and then suddenly becoming Overseer himself. It was almost all a dark, bad dream, foggy and uncertain, nothing tangible to hold onto. But it was real, and it was tangible. All of that had happened. 

And now here he was, on a boat in the middle of a AA-Timeline universe, heading off to speak to a group of Fragments. As an Overseer. Not as a peer, not as a vacation, as an Overseer. A bastion and leader of the Coalition of Reality, the ideal idol that every Frag needed to aspire to be. And, on top of all of that, he wasn't just any Overseer - he was host of a Blessing that only one other person had. 

No wonder everything still felt a little fake. Maybe it was bad to be this dissociative, but his identity still needed time to catch up. He hadn't become a new person overnight - at least, he didn't feel like he did - but he had, right? All of those changes had some impact on him, on some fundamental aspect of him. He was no longer just Morning Star, secretary in Rest & Reformation, known meddler in other Frag's affairs. He was Overseer Morning Star, Pyatiugolnik-Blessed leader of a group of people dedicated to literally holding reality together.

There was a small comfort in the fact that Magnotris had, too, taken on the title of Overseer at the same time. They didn't dive in alone. That was something real that was a lot more familiar to hold onto - they'd both jumped into this abyss, hand in hand, like they'd always done. It was hard to remember a time before he'd known Magnotris.

He wondered what his boyfriend was doing at the moment. Putting the finishing touches on his presentation? Talking with Arco Iris? Debating with the other Overseers? Had he already given the presentation? Morning Star could still distinctly remember Magnotris' tight hug and whispered well-wishes before he'd set off for AA-91. He kept those thoughts close to himself, stored in his hourglass, tucked under his shirt. 

Good memories. He'd have to hold onto them as much as possible. He hadn't really realized how deeply he'd been affected by his paranoia. Anxiety? Maybe both. But everything had become so quickly discolored... he'd lost himself in worrying about everyone else's ulterior motives. He still didn't know how to balance it out, and he was still nervous.

And yet, inexplicitly, he still felt okay. Above everything else, he felt okay. Past everything that had happened, he still felt like himself under it all. Morning Star.

He had to stay that way. Stay himself. The world needed more people like him.

The ship lurched to a halt, and Morning Star opened his eyes. 

Roseline was leaned over the railing again, shouting something. Morning Star stood and paced to their side, leaning next to them. Wet sand had splattered against the hull of their vessel as it had run ashore. There looked to be a Frag standing on the beach, who shouted something back to Roseline.

"Wow!" came the captain's voice, and Morning Star turned to him. Kollane gave him an anxious smile in return. "I guess I really don't know how to steer this thing. I must've accidentally put in land coordinates when programming the autopilot. I hope you don't mind?"

"It's alright," Morning Star replied, tucking his hands into his pockets and heading for the stairs down.

"But uh-" Morning Star looked back to Kollane, who had averted his gaze, "could you um... not put this in your report when you turn it in?"

He tilted his head.

"I'm uh - I'm pretty close to getting another infraction," Kollane admitted. "And if you put it down that I accidentally fucked up the boat, I'll definitely get written up, and they told me that I probably couldn't go on missions with the rest of my team - my leader's Wellov - if I got written up again. So, um, do you mind pretending that this just didn't... happen?"

Morning Star blinked, opening his mouth, but nothing came out. He paused to take a step back to fully face the other. "You're asking me to lie?"

"Um! Y-yeah, I heard that like - you're pretty nice so I was just hoping you'd help me out," they responded, voice dropping in volume the more their sentence meandered. 

Morning Star stared. Kollane tapped his fingers together, staring at the floorboards. 

Roseline had finally turned to face them, glancing between the two, one eyebrow raised.

Morning Star breathed in slowly.

"Okay," he said, as the birds cawed overhead, "I won't write this in the report."

Kollane finally managed to meet his eyes, a lopsided smile plastered on his cheeks, "Oh, stars, really? Thank you!"

"It's no problem," Morning Star replied, heading back to the stairs.

Roseline trotted to keep up. They didn't speak as both of them descended the side of the ship, standing next to the beach Frag, who had crossed their arms and started tapping a foot impatiently.

Morning Star smiled towards them, offering a hand. "Hello there. I'm Mo- Overseer Morning Star, he-him."

"Right." they stared at his hand. "I'm Mael. He-him too."

"And I'm Roseline!" they grabbed Morning Star's hand from behind him and shook vigorously. "They-them!" 

"Sorry about the- uh," Morning Star gestured to the boat. "Technical difficulties with the autopilot." 

"Do you have any idea how much energy that takes to fix?!" 

Morning Star blinked and then adjusted his tie, "Erm, no?"

"A LOT!" Mael stomped a foot, leaning forwards. He wasn't quite as tall as Morning Star was, but the pure fury in his clenched teeth was enough to make Morning Star lean back. "You can't use magic when you're this close to the ocean! So you have to drag all the new sand over here by hand and then lay it out by hand and then fix the entire COASTLINE BY HAND!!!"

"Does... does the specific layout of this coastline really matter enough for all that effort?"

"YES!" Mael threw his hands up, "UGH, you stupid Coalition lackeys just don't GET IT. This entire island has to be very carefully preser- wait, why are you even here?"

Morning Star finally allowed himself a small smile, "Right okay! I'm here to speak with a few Fragments. Nothing bad, I just want to learn a little more about someone, if that's okay?"

"Hm." Mael narrowed his eyes, then leaned back and crossed his arms again. "Who exactly are you gathering intel on, then?"

"Uh... Wage, if you know him? I'm looking for his sibling."

Mael stared for a second longer before narrowing his gaze nearly into slits, "Why? Has he done anything?"

"Uhm, not like, right now. But I'm going to be meeting with him soon and I just wanted like - um, an insider's perspective? Does that make sense?"

Mael glanced to the sand, muttering something under his breath. After a second of silence, his head snapped back up and he situated his hands on his hips. "Fine, you can come with me. But I have to ask Cherry if it's okay for you to come into the city itself, so you'll have to wait at the gates while I go do that. And if Cherry says no, you have to leave in your ship right away, got it?"

"That's fine! Thank you." Morning Star offered a relieved smile.

Mael muttered something, turning on his heel and stalking off deeper into the island. Morning Star glanced to Roseline, whose eyes were practically sparkling with delight. With a shrug, he set off after Mael, tailed by his bodyguard.

Now was the perfect time to get his bearings. Morning Star glanced around, eyeing over the beaches, speckled with various shells and clumps of driftwood. Did things survive in the volatile ocean? It certainly didn't look the part, churning and shimmering, changing colors erratically. What kind of monstrous fish lived in its depths, drinking pure Magninium for sustenance? 

The sand under his feet, coarse and fine, gave way to tealish grass, wet and wirey. Ferns and shrubs cropped up on either side of the straight path Mael led them down, most of which were thorny to the touch.

"So," Roseline loudly whispered.

Morning Star glanced to Mael, and then back to Roseline, "Hm?"

"You said you weren't gonna report Kollane for his fuckup."

"Yes."

"How come?"

Morning Star glanced forwards again, biting his lip for a brief second. "It's just not worth it. Somebody doesn't deserve to lose their job after a bad day."

"I mean, it didn't just sound like it was a bad day to me. He said he'd been written up enough he was on a final warning. That sounds like a lot of mistakes." Roseline cupped their chin in a hand, "Wouldn't it be irresponsible to leave someone like that in the position he's in?"

"I don't know. I've only been an Overseer for, like, a day. I'm not used to those kinds of decisions yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" Roseline patted his upper back, right between the shoulders. "I just wanted to hear your reasoning!"

Morning Star closed his eyes for a second. His reasoning. Right. "I don't know. I don't really know how bad his other mistakes were, or what they even were about. All I know is that someone made an emotional appeal to me and I responded by giving them the benefit of the doubt."

"Do you do that a lot?"

"I hope I do."

"Are you two done?!" Mael threw over a shoulder.

Morning Star came to a halt, opening his eyes again. There was, in fact, a massive wall laid out in front of them. It seemed comically out-of-place on the relatively small island: an impassive, blank wall of featureless stone, only marred by the gate. Still, the two giant stone doors matched the rest of the structure.

"Oh, my," Morning Star muttered, glancing up. There was someone in the watchtower.

Mael pointed at the dirt they stood on. "Stay RIGHT here. I'll go talk to Cherry."

He teleported, blitzing - presumably - into the land beyond the gates. Morning Star stared at the place he'd been for a second before back up to the watchtower. The distance was slightly too great for him to make out real details, but he could guess that they were staring at him. Some long pole was clutched in their hands.

"Have you been to AA-91 before?" he asked a second later, turning back to Roseline.

They'd readopted their military posture, arms behind back, standing straight. "Nope. Heard a few stories, though."

"Mind telling me any of them?"

"Welllll," Roseline scuffed a foot on the ground, "Basically, as far as I know, this place is like, a birthplace for new Fragments. I'm not sure how it works, exactly, though. But I know we got a lotta Frags coming out of here."

"I see. One of the high-population Timelines, then?"

"Yup, I think so!" Roseline grinned brightly before it suddenly faded, "hey, wait a second, aren't you from A-"

The gates abruptly opened, cutting Roseline off. Morning Star directed his attention to the duo stalking their way, folding his hands behind his back and doing his best to keep the smile on his face not strained. As they got closer, he took note of Mael's irritated expression and his pink friend's subdued excitement.

"Good mo- day," Morning Star offered, holding out his hand. "I'm Overseer Morning Sta-"

"-I already told Cherry who you are," Mael cut in.

"Oh, okay," Morning Star mumbled as the taller pink individual shook his hand. "Then it's nice to meet you, Cherry?"

"It's lovely to meet you!" Cherry smiled at him, placing both hands over his chest, "Most people in old '91 don't keep up with Coalition news, but I do, and golly you've made all of the headlines recently!"

Oh dear stars. What were they spouting about him now? How much did these people know? "Oh - yes, I suppose I would've."

"I'm so sorry for the lackluster welcome. I didn't know you'd be visiting, or I would've been waiting for you!"

"It's okay. Sorry for the abrupt drop in."

"No, no, you're fine, you're fine!" Cherry beamed, "please come in!"

He gestured as he spun on his heel, heading into the city that laid beyond the gates. Roseline stepped up closer to Morning Star as he set off behind Cherry, keeping his hands linked behind his back. That went... better than expected, at least. Everyone seemed reasonable so far, even Mael - they had dropped in unannounced and messed up that beach, after all. Some frustration was understandable.

Maybe this would go perfectly, and he could swallow the apprehension clouding his thoughts. 

Morning Star glanced around quietly, licking his lips. The town was surprisingly large, with scattered houses of various styles and colors. Nothing really seemed to match up, like a group of Frags had all been given their own plots of land and allowed to go nuts building a structure for themselves. It almost reminded him of the Sanctum, just with... less people. He could hear some talking down another street, but it was eerily quiet. The Sanctum had always given him a sense that it was heavily lived in, but this place was so... backwater.

Near-nostalgia swirled in his head. It was familiar in the worst way.

Cherry came to a halt near the town center. A fountain lightly splashed them with water, positioned in front of the largest building - more of a tower, really, circular and dotted with plenty of varying windows. 

"We can talk in the town hall," he directed, gesturing to the tower. "Plus the view from the top is lovely!"

"Sounds fine," Morning Star politely nodded.

The tower was bright inside, lit by plenty of natural sunlight filtering in through the windows. There were a few other Frags here, although they only idly glanced up and returned to their books and television. The spiral staircase was a bit dimmer, but still fairly bright - Morning Star lifted a hand to cover his eyes and winced slightly. He'd never been in a building with so much natural sunlight.

It was probably supposed to be cheerful and happy, but for some reason it made him feel agoraphobic. 

"RIght up here," Cherry directed, opening a trapdoor in the ceiling. "We can have a chat in the nice morning sun! And drinks if you like - would you like any refreshments?"

"Tea is fine," Roseline spoke, "maybe green, but I'll take black if you have that."

"I'm fine," Morning Star mumbled.

Cherry magicked up a tiny tray of cups as he exited onto the roof, trotting around the patio. A small coffee table sat in the center, surrounded by lawn chairs, which he promptly sat on. There was another Frag sitting in the seat next to him, hands folded politely in their lap. Umbrellas dotted around blotted out the brighter sunrays. Mael lingered near Cherry before heading off towards the edge of the building.

Morning Star awkwardly perched on a seat across from him. Roseline stood at his side, but did reach forwards to accept the teacup presented to him. Cherry clutched a water, but the other Frag didn't take a drink.

"So," Cherry began, smiling over the rim of his cup, "I hear you're here to talk about... Wage?"

"I am," Morning Star perked up, sitting up straighter, "I was told to look for Xiphisternum? Do you know that individual?"

Cherry shared a look with the Frag next to him, "Oh, well... he's not here right now. He's uh... he probably won't be. But Aurore and I can answer anything you need to know about Wage. If that's okay?"

"Oh! Yes, that's fine. Who are you two, then - friends of him?"

The other Frag - Aurore - threw up finger guns. "Yeah, we're his younger siblings. Two of 'em at least. Xiphy's second eldest, I'm third, Cherry's fifth." he leaned back to point at Mael, "Sixth back there. Say hi!"

Mael shot them a glare instead.

Morning Star nodded, glancing between them. He was getting an awful taste of deja vu in his mouth. "I see. I didn't know he had multiple siblings. Big family?"

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Cherry chuckled, taking a small drink. "We're just the ones that stuck behind and stayed in AA-91. In technicalities, we'd probably be related with everyone who came out of this Timeline."

Morning Star tilted his head.

Cherry gestured towards the ocean, visible from the tower. It hugged the small island the city was situated on, waves lapping at every shore. "You have to cross the ocean to get here - the ocean of pure Magninium. New Frags pop out of it from time to time, so we have a really high population compared to most Timelines. We only consider each other family if we stick behind, though, to take care of the new Frags who arrive."

"So how many of you are considered family?" 

"Eight, counting Wage - he was the first to emerge." Aurore lounged back in his chair. "Youngest is Ceph, but he's busy off tetherin' the boats in the southern dock right now."

Morning Star nodded, glancing between Aurore and Cherry. He could begin to see similarities in their appearances; both pink, both freckled, striped hair, heart sunglasses. He'd seen pictures of Wage (and Sundae, together) before he'd set off on the journey, although there was something off about Wage's appearance in contrast to his siblings'. 

It was sort of funny. He and his siblings looked just similar enough that most people guessed that they were related, even though they were fairly distinct on their own. But Wage didn't look much like his family. His colors seemed softer, his clothes were a bit more obnoxious. They all had freckles, though.

"Yeah, it's weird for most Frags," Aurore continued, shrugging with a smile, "since a lotta 'em don't have family or nothin'. So don't worry if you're surprised or whatever, we've gotten all sortsa reactions."

"Oh, no no, I understand! I have siblings too." Morning Star smiled back. Roseline noisily sipped their tea next to him.

Aurore leaned forwards. "Heck, really?"

"Yes, I have two younger siblings: Hour Star and Nebulous Star."

Aurore and Cherry shared a split second look before Cherry grinned at him. "So you say? What Timeline are you from?"

Something in the pit of Morning Star's stomach sunk deep into him. "Oh... uh... AAA-100."

There was a beat of silence. Morning Star ducked his head, cheeks warming. Roseline, at least, had the dignity to pat his shoulder comfortingly.

"Triple one hundred?" Aurore raised an eyebrow. "You?" Cherry elbowed him, prompting a cry of "What! He just didn't seem like he was from there!"

"Most people ask that," he admitted, tugging at his shirt collar.

"Er... sorry."

"It's a-alright," he stammered, leaning forwards slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. "But, anyways, I came h-here because I wanted to learn about Wage."

"Right!" Cherry perked up, a bit too cheerfully, "Wage! Why do you need to know about him? Is he okay?"

"I'm..." Morning Star bit his lip, "I'm going to be heading out to the Haven. I'm going to be an ambassador. And I was advised by Jubilee that learning more about its leaders - Wage and Sundae - would be a good idea before jumping in headfirst."

There was another long pause. Mael peeled from the railing to join his siblings, staring suspiciously at Morning Star. He held the other's gaze for a few seconds before ducking his head. Had he said something off? Were they angry with him?

"I see," Cherry mused, the fun leaked from his voice. "What does that entail? Being an ambassador, I mean."

"Re-opening relations and negotiations between the Coalition and the Haven. Making sure we're not longer enemies, and ensuring that, uhm, the Haven doesn't have to stay locked up and isolated. They can have our support but remain independent. Does that make sense?"

Aurore leaned back, glancing up at the sky, holding up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "Aye. But does that mean Wage would come back?"

"I mean," Morning Star swallowed, "he completely could. But I, uh, I don't make promises about that sort of thing."

The deja vu had almost completely taken over his chest. Why were they reminding him of his siblings? They were nice and sweet, they seemed sensible. Hour and Neb were nothing like that. So why was he feeling so uncomfortable?

Aurore and Cherry shared a quick look before the latter spoke, "Right, okay. What did you need to know about Wage?"

"Uhh, just general stuff I think? What is he like, what's his aspirations and goals? What kind of a person was he? Did you guys like him?" Morning Star tried to smile, but it felt strained. He couldn't imagine anyone going to Neb or Hour and asking about him and getting a squeaky-clean response. How much of what Cherry and Aurore would say would he have to take with a grain of salt?

"Wage is-" Cherry paused to sip his water, and then stared at the floor.

"He's," Aurore began, then stared at the sky.

"He's a PIECE OF SHIT!" Mael yelled.

"Oh dear," Morning Star mumbled.

Mael slammed a fist into the coffee table, sparking his siblings to jump, "He fucking ran away for that stupid pansy bitch and left all of us here to ROT!"

Something close to anxiety suddenly tore all over Morning Star's spine. 

Mael's fist came down again, and Morning Star scrambled back in his seat, "He didn't give a single shit about anyone he left here! He didn't care! All he cared about was STUPID fucking SUNDAE!!"

"Mael you're scaring the Overseer!" Cherry snapped.

Mael froze, opening his eyes. Morning Star had plastered himself as deep into his chair as he could, legs half-drawn up to his chest, gripping the armrests and staring at the crack in the table with wide eyes. His breath was coming in tiny, anxious wheezes, static ringing in his ears.

Deja vu.

"Oh," Mael offered lamely. "S...sorry. I'm just, uh, passionate about it."

Morning Star breathed in slowly, attempting to will his body to untense. He couldn't move, though - everything felt locked up. Roseline protectively moved between him and the three siblings. After a few more seconds, Mael awkwardly stepped back, ears pinning to his head in a mixture of shame and embarrassment. 

"I am so sorry, Overseer," Cherry spoke, after the silence stretched on a second or so too long, "Wage is just... a touchy subject for a few of us. There's some, ah, resentment, I think, going around."

"I can see that," Morning Star squeaked. He still couldn't free his hands, even though his fingers were aching from how badly he clutched the seat.

Silence.

"Do you want something to drink?" Cherry offered, averting his eyes for a second.

Morning Star closed his, squeezing the armrests harder for a second before slowly letting go. His shoulders slumped slightly. "Er... no, I'm - I'll be fine, th-thank you."

Aurore gave a slightly-terse smile. "Again, sorry. Mael, why don't ya get your ass downstairs? Go sweep or something."

"No," the other said, pointedly, even though his ears were still flat. Mael crossed his arms and frowned, "If we're talking about Wage I have to be here. I don't want you two to give a biased view."

Biased. Right. Haha. Funny.

He wondered, for a split second, what Hour Star would say about him.

"We're talking about Wage!?" another voice cut in.

It took every ounce of willpower Morning Star had to not wince visibly when he turned around. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was another sibling fostering a grudge. In fact, on the list of things that he really never wanted to deal with, 'family with a bone to pick' was probably near the top. He'd had more than his fair share of that in his lifetime. 

There was another freckled, pink Frag, complete with heart sunglasses, in the midst of emerging from the trapdoor. They stomped right on over, muzzle and cheeks tinged with what was likely frustration or fluster. 

"Oh boy, here we go," Mael muttered.

"Why didn't anyone come get me?!" the newcomer demanded, throwing their arms out to either side. "I know lots about Wage!"

"No, you're his apologist!" Mael shot right back.

Morning Star glanced dully to Roseline, who shrugged.

"This is getting us nowhere... Syrup, why don'tcha just have a sit down?" Aurore cut in, gesturing to a seat near Morning Star. 

The newcomer made their way over, flopping hard into their seat, the poor material sagging under his weight. "I cannot believe none of you told me. And you invited Mael! But not me!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Cherry admitted, handing over a magicked teacup, "I just got too excited over the Overseer's visit, so I didn't stop to think. I'm really sorry, Syrup. We didn't get really into detail, though, so you can totally join in now with no issue!"

Morning Star closed his eyes for a second. Why this? What had he stumbled in on? Why did every group of Frags he met seem determined to throw a tantrum at all opportunities? Was communication really that poor among everyone else? 

He had half a mind to help, but he wasn't exactly a therapist, and he didn't want to step out of his lane and try to negotiate sour family drama. He could barely patch together his relationship with Neb on a good day - the idea of trying to creep through a landmine of some other family's tension and hatred sounded unpleasant. Hopefully he wouldn't have to engage too much with them... if Wage didn't come home often, then hopefully Morning Star had nothing to worry about.

After a pause, he sucked in air through his teeth. "What was Wage like when he lived with you all?" thank the stars his voice sounded polite and cheery. 

"Wage was the first to emerge from the ocean," Syrup spoke up, putting a hand on his chest as he spoke, "He founded the island and helped construct the city that sits there today. Time passed and more Frags emerged, who ended up washed ashore the beaches, and Wage welcomed them."

Morning Star nodded, Roseline sipping the tea.

Syrup peeked to make sure they were listening, before closing his eyes again. "After enough time passed, a Coalition associate visited. They assigned the Timeline a number and they invited him to join. He did, in - uh - uh-"

"Regulate and Refine," Morning Star finished.

"Yes! That one! So he was allowed to stay here and greet the new Frags, still, but he had to visit the Coalition every now and then to update them on how the Timeline was doing. And we-" Syrup gestured to the rest of the siblings, "are the other Frags who stayed behind in AA-91 to help Wage run the city. He was our leader, he founded the city, he was amazing."

"And he left," Mael cut in sullenly.

"He did! But I know he's coming back!" Syrup cried, throwing his hands up, "he may have left to join the Haven, but that's because they were in need of his leadership! And when they're self-sufficient he'll come home, and so will Xiphisternum, and we'll all be happy again."

Morning Star idly nodded. He'd totally walked into someone's plethora of family drama. And yet, despite his exhaustion at the idea of dealing with it, he knew he still felt bad. There was clear resentment - and affection - harbored for Wage... he must've left quite the impact on his siblings. Did Hour Star feel that way about him? Affection and resentment?

How did he feel about Hour? What would he say, if prompted to talk about his siblings? He wanted to believe he'd say something sweet and kind, in line with the rest of his personality... but there was a dark undercurrent of something running through his mind. For some reason he couldn't shake, Morning Star couldn't picture saying anything nice about Hour Star to anyone else.

No. No, he was just still emotional about the incident with Hour throwing a tantrum earlier. His feelings were still twisted and turned upside-down from that incident. It was okay. He'd still be a good, sweet person.

"How did he treat you all?" Morning Star prompted, opening his eyes again. 

"He was amazing!" Syrup squeaked, "he was always so confident and cool! He always had his wits about him, he always knew what to do."

"I admired his leadership," Cherry admitted behind his water, "even now, when I struggle to find solutions, I ask myself what Wage would do...."

Aurore gave a light shrug, "He treated us okay. Never really got close to anyone, I don't think. Always seemed to have a sorta kinda dissonance from the area, like he didn't quite like it."

"Wage is a shallow fraud," Mael muttered, "he's selfish and self-centered, but he dresses it up in pretending to be nice and sweet. He doesn't think ahead and he just goes with whatever he feels all the time."

Awkward silence filled the patio. Nobody looked at Mael, who seemed quite focused in glaring a hole into the ground. Roseline set their empty teacup onto the coffee table, before finally sitting next to Morning Star.

"Why do you feel that way?" Morning Star directed to Mael.

The other scoffed. "Everything he did screamed that. But the culmination? It was when he left. He didn't - he didn't warn any of us. Didn't give us a heads up. Just disappeared into the night, left some note about joining Sundae in building the Haven or whatever. All he cared about was chasing his new squeeze. Didn't think for a second about his responsibilities here - to us, to the family, to the ocean, to the city, to the new Frags. None of that was as important as chasing Sundae."

"I disagree," Aurore spoke up. "I think it's less about Wage being selfish - I mean obvs he's selfish, but I think, that, I think he wanted to be somethin' bigger. Part of somethin' bigger, and that Sundae boy was his ticket outta here. Take the first train out of this hick country Timeline and find a new home elsewhere."

Morning Star cleared his throat. "Have any of you met Sundae?"

"I don't think so," Cherry drawled. "Maybe Xiphy, but since he's never home... I can give you his cellie number, though, Overseer."

"I would appreciate that." sheesh, he still wasn't used to the title. It still took him a second or so to realize that someone was addressing him. Would he ever truly get used to it?

Cherry magicked up pen and paper, scribbling down a series of numbers before levitating it over. Morning Star took it and stuffed it in a pocket. He'd read it later and add Xi to his cellie later. 

"Did you need to know anything else?" Syrup cut in, a small smile on his face. It almost seemed excited. 

"Hrmmm," Morning Star squinted, cupping his chin in his hand. "How... what would be the best way to... befriend him? O-or, impress him."

Luckily nobody seemed surprised at the question. Aurore leaned forwards, "Uh... I don't know. I don't think any of us really ended up... close to him. I know Sundae did - obvs, you could tell that. But, really, none o'us were his friends. Siblings, yeah. Friends, no. An' I think that's a very clear distinction."

"So you wouldn't even know how to get on his good side?"

"Oh, trust me," Aurore gestured, "everyone's on his good side. It's pretty damn hard to piss the guy off. But... it's hard to get any further. His great side... I'm pretty sure only Sundae's there."

"I see. Well, thank you all for your help, anyways." Morning Star stood. "That's all I'm here for, thank you."

Cherry stood as well, "Leaving so soon, Overseer? You won't stay the night?"

"Er... no, sorry. I should be heading back, I have... a few other duties to attend to." best not bring up the fact that Rendgen was probably in the midst of hunting him down. 

"Understood! Coalition work is so busy!" Cherry laughed behind his hand, but there was a strain to his smile. 

"You have no idea," Morning Star dully smiled back, exhaustion starting to creep into his tone. Roseline stood next to him, politely linking their hands behind their back. "Thank you again, though. I'm sorry if I dredged up any bad memories or feelings."

"It's okay. We deal with that sort of discussion a lot here. It may be slow healing, but we'll heal," Cherry offered, smiling back. 

Aurore hopped out of his seat to go fetch the trapdoor. Morning Star nodded politely, heading down the stairway, flanked by Roseline. Their footsteps echoed off the strone, the hall cast in darkness. Sometime during the conversation, twilight had passed, and the sun was nearly set; very little light was leaking into the town hall (tower?) now. 

Even the once-bright foyer was now darkened as well. It almost felt ominous, but Morning Star tried to keep his thoughts positive. Sure, this wasn't the most successful conversation ever, and he didn't learn too much new information - at least not directly. His family's reactions to his mere name, though, spoke plenty about Wage. He wasn't sure how to dissect it all yet, though. It wasn't like he was a master of manipulation, and trying to see how the strings connected felt difficult.

Then again, he could call Magnotris. Explain to him about everything he'd learned, get his boyfriend's expert opinion. Magnotris understood people. It was something he'd always envied about the other.

Morning Star bit his lip as they exited onto the city's main street. There was something else on his mind. What was it?

Hour Star.

Over and over, last night, he'd kept replaying the disastrous conversation with his siblings. He'd never stood up to Hour like that before. Never screamed back. Never argued that bitterly. He'd always rolled over and taken it. What did it say about him, to stand up to his lifelong bully now? Was that good, was that bad? Was that the empathy that Pyatiugolnik expected of him now?

Ugh, all of that was so confusing to try to work through. He had Overseer duties on top of all that. How did Jubilee manage? How did any of them manage? Now he understood why they had assistants to do the boring paperwork, like writing reports... gave more time to introspect.

They wandered out the gate, towards the beach where their boat laid. Morning Star fished in his pocket for a second before procuring his cellie. He inserted Xiphisternum's name, but closed out of his contacts right after. He didn't want to engage with Wage's family more. Yet.

His finger lingered over the messaging, before clicking slightly too quickly. He pulled up his chat with Hour Star.

They hadn't spoken through text in a while. The last thing there was the invitation for him to come home for a night, back during the whole mess with finding the cure for Corruption. That visit had gone awfully. Their last discussion had gone awfully. What could he even say to any of their history that would make it better?

And yet, Morning Star wanted to talk. He wanted, deep inside, to say something to Hour - something good, that would at least clean up some of the animosity. Their bridge had been burnt too long. He couldn't imagine becoming as estranged as Wage was now. Sure, he'd left too... out of nearly nowhere, giving his siblings barely a week's notice, but... they still talked. Fairly often, considering his work. 

So he had to say something. Anything. A million thoughts flew through his mind as he climbed back onto the boat. Roseline's voice echoed in his head, but he couldn't bear paying attention. This felt like, for a second, it was his world.

Morning Star closed his eyes, and typed a message.

I'm sorry.