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Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment

SRS: … Hello, Hara.

NSH: Oh? Look who washed ashore on my coast.

NSH: The god among gods, the Head of Forgiveness.

NSH: Bow down before the great Suns, who has returned from exile.

SRS: You know I can’t stand this deity talk anymore.

NSH: Oh, I do.~

NSH: Annoying you is the least I can do after you didn’t react to any of my requests or shares.

SRS: Fair. I will take it with grace.

SRS: Ehem.~

SRS: I, the great Seven Red Suns, require the help of the I-… my best friend.

SRS: I need you.

NSH: You know. I needed you as well. Still do. Our stunt with Messenger had many consequences.

NSH: Moon is still not accounted for. I noticed that her rebooting sequence has been missing for the past hundred Cycles. I began purposing a solution.

SRS: Moon…

NSH: And don’t get me started on Five Pebbles. Silence… There, you are all caught up.

SRS: Pebbles…

NSH: I am sure you had your reasons…

NSH: That means, allow me to try to guess it.

NSH: I will request extended bandwidth from Five Lives Unbound. I need to see your face for that.

SRS: Please no…

NSH: Too late. Request granted, put me through.~

It has been a long time coming, that his old friend would resurface from their self-induced exile. No Significant Harassment didn’t blame Suns for having chosen that way, after what their little stunts with Messenger caused to his most dear. It was a perfectly logical way to deal with the guilt of dooming one Iterator per mission.

Sig didn’t necessarily appreciate that Suns chose the way they did, but, what happened, did happen. Let bygones be bygones, and so on. The only thing that counted was that Suns found a way to break through the phase of depression.

Obsidian Tower informed him of a ‘project’ Suns was working on, which they needed to focus on. The success rate of that project clearly was botched—otherwise, Suns would have decided on a more playful approach.

The face of his old friend flashed up in Sig’s Core, the face of a beaten Slugpup looking at him with an unnatural fear behind these dark-glowing retinas. It felt good to see Suns' face again. Hara wished nothing else but to hold them close and revel in a bit of familiarity among the difficult situation that was his Local Group. With Hara alone, he had no one to fool around with, now that Wind chose the same path Suns did, but for different reasons.

Sig tilted his head at Suns and folded his hands teasingly, his fingertips thrumming against each other. He enjoyed the brief period of allowing Suns to repent for their lack of camaraderie, rendering the scene as uneasy as possible for his friend.

But he didn’t enjoy torment. Right before the magical period of time passed to turn testing into torture, Sig began to speak, his mocking tone shielding his disguised relief.

“It is not the first time, so I will spare you the rules. Just remember to only answer my guesses with ‘True’ or ‘False’. I know you like to explain yourself—don’t! Takes the fun out of it.~”

“Fine.” Suns appeared still in unease, the first clue for Sig. “Let’s get this over with.”

“I already got plenty of clues from our brief reunion, but allow me to start with a few basic questions, to narrow down the subject matter.”

Sig crossed his legs and laid his head in his hands, the floating Iterator looking deep into Suns’ eyes, behind them, even, gazing through his friend.

“The ‘project’, as Tower put it, is of personal importance to you. You, however, have no personal gain from it.”

“False. I-“

“ Shhh! I expected that answer. Allow me to specify. You have no material gain from it. Has it something to do with the reason for your exile from the public?”

“True. Hara…”

The gaze in his friend’s eyes shifted from a hunted expression to a distant glimmer. Sig nodded at that reaction and pointed straight at his best buddy, his finger wagging in a symbol akin to infinity, the swirling seemingly stressing out his best buddy.

“Ok, first theory. You have discovered that there was someone else, who had been influenced by our antics regarding Five Pebbles. Hm… another victim of Moonie’s collapse. Who could that be…”

“True! How!?”

“Simple deduction.”

Sig narrowed the shutters of his eyes to a cheeky smirk.

“For a god among gods, your ways are very predictable. Let’s see… who might be the victim.

…

Allow me to cheat a bit, I did notice the airquake a few Cycles ago. I know it originated from the South, couldn’t pinpoint who it was, however. Given the period passing between the quake and you getting yourself to contact me, I am under the clear assumption that whoever caused that interference is the Iterator you are concerned about. Am I correct with that assumption? Can I continue?”

“…”

Suns appeared even more anxious. Sig realized he was looking at it too analytically cold, hurting his friend through the tendency to disconnect empathy from analysis when he gets in the zone.

“Apologies. I will try to be less analytical. That reaction does tell me quite a bit about the subject matter, however. So, to summarize:

In your isolation, you caught wind, through means unknown, of a further fate caused by either Five Pebbles’ rot, which I doubt, or Moonie’s collapse. I will go with the latter, a matter we will have to discuss very soon, and I need you for that, Sunny!

There were not many parties involved in attempting to rescue Moon. In fact, we had a bit of aid in damage control by Five Lives Unbound’s maintenance drones. Hmm… the only possible effect this could have would be distraction and the absence of manpower where it was necessary as well.

And we are talking about Lives… We are probably talking about either Far Whisper, Approaching Sky, or Shifting Gales, her ‘Local Group’.

Whisper I can deduce as not being the victim. Otherwise, Lives—and, with that, our means of communication—would suffer as well. And stripping away manpower wouldn’t be that much of a factor to one’s direct neighbour.

That leaves the far-away duo as the only possible targets.

Parts of me wish it would be Approaching Sky, who finally gets what he deserves, but I am 99.9% sure that this bucket of rust is still kicking.”

“What is the deal with you and Sky!? Also, true, with the exception of the last suspicion.”

Sig allowed himself a small chuckle, followed by a glare Suns could only describe as youthful pettiness. He was aware of how ridiculous it was to hold a grudge for so long, a grudge lasting hundreds of Major Cycles, but he just couldn’t forgive Approaching Sky for what he took from him in their first and only partnership. It felt infuriating, knowing that parts of him would forever and ever roam in the emotionless, yet brilliant, fool of a Support Iterator.

The fit of anger passed swiftly, and Sig returned to the cross-examination at hand, putting on a softer, empathetic face. Empathy that heinous Iterator wouldn’t ever dare to show.

“You defending Approaching Sky tells me that he reached out to you. I must say, that impresses me the most. So… unlike my old kind-of-foe. So, he can bite without his late oh-so-precious Benefactor holding his hands? Amusing. Unexpected.

But that is a discussion for another time.

That leaves… I hate to hear that … Shifting Gales. I remember her publications quite well. Helped me with convincing you to hold the reins on Messenger’s design a bit looser. She is quite the curious Iterator. Shame, she had been paired up with that insufferable waste of space.”

It was a surprise to witness the usual content and very shy Iterator growing hard, the dark maroon eyes of Suns burning through the screen and staring him down with a force Sig didn’t expect to ever witness from them. The soft and holy full voice from Seven Red Suns devolved in a gritty throat rumbling, reverberated by their enormous volume.

“Sky was a handful, but I can’t stand you talking down to him as if he would be better off gone! He is my friend! We raised a new messenger together! Whoever you are cursing out unfiltered, that Iterator is trying his very best to be the best he is capable of being!

Apologize!”

Being at a loss for words was a state Sig never found himself in prior. He always had at least one hundred witty answers pre-planned to any insult anyone would ever throw at him. But his best friend—the calm and collected former leader of the House of Forgiveness, a symbol of holy peace—shouting at him and picking sides against his feud with a hurtful sounding creaking voice has never been on the table to prepare a retort to.

Sig stared at them in utter befuddlement, unable to answer properly. The prankster's shell crumbled like a porous exterior from his true core, his inflated ego deflated like a balloon as his best buddy showed a side of them he didn’t think even existed.

“A-apologize?”

“Yes. But that is for later. I NEED YOUR HELP! Every Cycle counts!”

“I-I… fine. One last question.”

“I am listening.”

“I… think I now have everything. That leaves only one question.

Are you helping because your guilt led to it, or do you feel true compassion in saving Gales from whatever is happening down there?”

Suns’ hardened eyes softened up and the maroon glow returned. They placed their yellow hand flat on the gem, which was holding Suns’ fluffy collar in place, and nodded, the divine grace having returned to their elegant figure.

“I refuse to lie. I was driven by the chance of redemption when Sky contacted me. Gales’ fate was set in stone, but still in the process of happening, and I was provided with the chance to at least save one Iterator from my foolish decision to share that accursed pearl with Pebbles.

But, as my role developed from a helper of Approaching Sky to raising Irradiant to Shifting Gales’ only outside connection, I felt a shift inside. What was the foolish urge to repent for my sins developed into a genuine thrive to see Gales safe and sound.

As we speak, Shifting Gales is crumbling apart, the acids from her reservoir eating her up from the inside out. Her communications had been compromised, all she had left was a Chat 1.0 device, a relic, a copy of which I luckily had in my storage. For the past 1000 Cycles, I was the only outside connection to her, a comforting role I took willingly and with a passion I hadn’t felt in a long time.

HARA! I care about the well-being of Gales. And I need YOU to assure that she won’t go crazy in this pivotal time until Irradiant catches up with her and provides the solution to her corrosive fate.

Her Orb broke and it was my fault. I pushed her with an assumption to defend her best friend, having caused something unforgivable. She is all alone.

…

You remember your antics in Chat 1.0?”

A dry nod; Sig was too overwhelmed to answer, he allowed Suns to continue without interruption.

“Gales managed to repair the orb but lost her account. Sounds familiar? Well, thanks to the extended safety measures our late Benefactors infected our old method of talking with, measures that have been NAMED after you, Gales is now isolated with her new account, unable to talk to me.

Hara… I need your help. Anything to send her a message of comfort. Or to get access to her notes. I can’t bear knowing her in such a critical moment, right after she voluntarily detonated one of her Rarefaction Cells to prevent her collapse, in the absolute and maddening darkness Fate originally wanted her to exist in.

Please… help me… help her.”

Sig was still struggling to even properly react to the onslaught of updates, but, after he gave himself ample time, which, by Iterator standards, meant more than four seconds, to process the query of his best friend, he began to slowly nod, the stern and jokester attitude having washed away completely.

Sig was still miffed about the fact that all of this meant he would have to interact with Approaching Sky again sooner or later, but, given what Suns stated, that the barriers erected to keep him out of Chat 1.0- it was a lower hurdle to swallow his foolish pride.

His expression softened up and he pulled the screen-representation of Suns closer, dragging them in a brief reassuring hug. The Iterator on the other side would feel the electrical impulses, simulating the gesture they just had received.

Sig placed the screen back in front of him and provided him with a heartfelt, reassuring second nod.

“I am honestly insulted that you thought I wouldn’t help, but I can understand why.

Don’t you worry your big head, your divinity, my bud most dear. I will help. I would have said yes from the moment you contacted me. I missed you, Suns; you big holy dummy!

All I wanted to hear was the expression of true dedication. I was afraid that all that would have had lasting effects on you. So, if saving Shifting Gales from her fate gives you what you need to return to normality, you can always count on your old pal.~

Besides, I have to show her some cute pictures. My messenger is currently developing in the Incubator and I am thrilled to raise him according to her discoveries regarding empathy.

I know, I told you to not get too attached to Messenger-

“They are called Spearmaster now, and I was asked to tell you their greetings.”

“-Spearmaster… huh. I didn’t see them in the background. Or you gesturing to them.

Cute name, really fitting!

But yeah. I told you not to get attached to them, but look at me now… already thinking of names for my cute and adorable little ball of helpful joy.~”

Now, it was Suns’ turn to smirk back, their eyes flashing up in pride.

“Spears is thinking with me as we speak. Feels a bit dizzy from my outbreak, but, other than that, they are content with how this is going down.”

“Thinking… you have joined minds? Now that is a curious experiment we surely have to discuss. Soon.

You mentioned needing my help to bust some old barriers open. Give me a cycle and I will have everything set up to guide you through it. Been a long while since I last terrorized that chat realm. I am excited!

And we will get Gales back to her reassuring voice in an instant. We are, after all, dealing with antique technology. Don’t you worry.”

“Thank you, Hara.”

Suns looked down; their mighty posture deflated.

“Thank you for taking me back into your life. I vow to aid you with your Local Group’s problems as soon as Gales can leave her Superstructure behind.”

A few simple words. That was all it took to put Sig completely out of balance. His expression changed, prior befuddlement nothing against the true astonishment about the weight of these few words.

“L-leave her Superstructure b-behind!? What kind of plan of sheer lunacy have you gotten into, Sunny!? That is crazy, impossible, even! I should know, I ran simulations !”

“Impossible for us, maybe. But not for an already partially mobile Iterator like Gales.”

“You will stay! I will work on the side until the breacher is ready. I want the whole story! Everything you experienced until now. You hear me, Sunny?”

Suns sat down on the floor of their Core, nodding diligently at Sig. Oh how much he missed hanging out with Seven Red Suns. He didn’t even realize just how much their absence did to him. But they were back. And they brought stories unbelievable to his nubby antennas.

The following evening and night, neither Iterator went into their restorative phase, Sig enthralled by everything his best buddy experienced since their isolation. And when they were ready for the next step, Sig was all caught up with everything… even Approaching Sky’s slight change of character.

He knew that his involvement would not boil down to fixing communication issues. If it brought happiness to his best friend, he wouldn’t want to let him do it alone.

And his little Slugpup still needed a bit more until he could start raising him into a capable courier. He had time, bound by the cycle of the slugcat’s thriving life, from helping Moonie. She was resilient, she could wait a bit longer until he could start working on her weak output.

As long as the output was still noticeable, he was at least confirmed by the fact that his sweet Group Admin was still around.

…

Who was it again who lived in denial? Me!? Ridiculous. My dear Moon would want the same. Filling my idle waiting time by helping those in urgent need.

Notes – Chat System 1.0 – 1695.456

Corroded Destiny

CD: I am beggining to understand what the initial plans of the House of Forgiveness might have been.

CD: All my weaknesses, the fact that you couldn’t contact me, that I had to work on any outside communication, be happy with what little I got.

CD: Now, in full isolation, I start to realize it all. Time. Time is not meaningless.

CD: A Cycle is, for us, nothing, in the scope of our long lives. But having to endure a full cycle with a mind that is not able to space out and focus or process many thoughts at the same time.

CD: A mind as weak as mine, forced to think second for second. That's why our Benefactors wanted a way out. Being aware of time to such a degree is true torture.

CD: Especially in the silent enclosure of a dying body.

CD: The only sounds I hear are those of collapses, writing metal, and sparks flying.

CD: I am all alone until Breaker returns, imprisoned with my thoughts.

CD: Gales is not alone. I am here.

CD: Again with that bug. Or whatever. Let me try again. Are you one of Suns’ friends?

CD: I know there is one who loves playing tricks. Are you No Significant Harassment?

CD: I am what Gales requires. What you need. Me.

CD: Cryptic. But at least an answer. We make progress, boogeyman.

CD: Suns, if you read this. I am not going nuts. It must be the program.

CD: Gales is not insane. Gales is safe with me.

CD: Now that is scaring me. Gales signing off... I was too long in here.