7/13 Instance: Over the Moon

[Svartfreja]

Timelined for a few hours after [Instance]Tempted Off-Task.


<Carol> Carol looked down at the Earth far below and back up at Cessily, "Okay last comms check before there's no air and we'll worry about the freaky physics later. You still hear me okay?"

<Cessily> "I'm sorry, but I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome this is!" Cessily yelled back over the roaring wind, a wide grin lighting up the girl's shiny silver face behind the helmet's transparent visor.

<Carol> "You're adorable," Carol laughed, "Okay, in five seconds you will be officially in space and we'll be heading straight for the moon. Tell me the second anything feels bad, okay?"

<Cessily> "No worries, everything feels great!" The infinite blackness expanded above them as the air grew thinner, while the roaring of the wind faded to a whisper. Once they left behind the last shreds of Earth's atmosphere, space greeted them with total silence. "Oh... wow..."

<Carol> "Take it all in," Carol adjusted her hold on Cessily, taking her hand to pull her the rest of the way now that there was no air resistance and it was safe to increase her speed without harming her, the only sign that they were moving at all was the trail of light that Carol left behind.

<Cessily> Her friend's words came from far away when they entered Cessily's thoughts, mesmerised by the breathtaking sight in front of her. Countless profound ways to describe what she saw raced through her mind, but in the end she summed it up in one simple word: "Beautiful."

<Carol> "Yeah, it is..." She turned them around slowly so that Cessily could see the view of Earth behind them, "It's nice and quiet out here too... good place to come and think..."

<Cessily> "Do you come here often?" Cessily asked and tilted back her head so she could look up and smile at Carol. "I would every day if I could." As the massive sphere of the Earth slowly grew smaller behind them, her fingers closed around the special camera strapped to her spacesuit.

<Carol> "I come out here when I have time or need the space to think now that I know I can, yeah..." She gave Cessily a smile, "I always wanted to visit space some day."

<Cessily> "And I never dreamt I'd one day be here." There was a wide grin stapled to the shiny girl's face the entire time she snapped pictures of their home from space. Then she looked up again. "How long can you stay?"

<Carol> "A while... I can stay longer the more practice I have... I've adapted to absorbing solar radiation to keep my reserves up so soon I may be able to stay up here indefinitely..." She gave Cessily a smile, turning them to face the moon again, "Where shall we set down?"

<Cessily> "I'm afraid I flunked my lunar geography class." Cessily chuckled, while the grey disc of the moon appeared on the edge of her visor. "Oh wow, I didn't expect it to look so... big already. How fast are we going!?"

<Carol> Carol gave a shrug, "I don't know, hard to tell without the wind resisitance... but pretty damn fast, I guess?"

<Cessily> "Pretty damn fast sounds about right!" She kept grinning like an overexcited little girl as the moon grew ever larger in front of them. Before long individual mountains and canyons became visible to their naked eyes.

<Cessily> Cessily once more raised the vacuum-proof camera, knowing that the harness connecting their suits would keep her securely strapped to Carol.

<Carol> Carol smiled, glad that she was enjoying the trip, slowing as they drew closer and gently turning them so that they'd land on their feet. "I like the view from right about here."

<Cessily> Cessily was too entranced by the surface of the moon approaching underneath, her shiny face an image of pure joy when her feet sunk into the soft grey dust. At least she had remembered to have her camera record the two mutants' moonlanding.

<Cessily> A cry of joy later, she leaned back and put her arm around Carol's shoulder, turning the camera towards the two of them. "Hi there, Earth! The eagle has landed!"

<Carol> Carol laughed and waved at the camera, "How're you liking our afternoon off so far?"

<Cessily> "Are you kidding?" Cessily cackled, tilting her head so her helmet would rest against Carol's, and preserved their cheerful waving for the ages. "What kind of question is that? I'm on the moon! This is the best day of my life!"

<Cessily> The next moment she experienced the moon's lower gravity firsthand, her excited bouncing lifting both of them off the ground, the two women still connected by the safety harness.

<Carol> Carol took control of her levitation and landed again, letting Cessily continue to the extent of their tether like an excitable silver baloon.

<Cessily> "Look, I can fly, too!" Cessily waved her arms as she soared above Carol's head, dragging the safety tether behind on her giant leap. Only the landing still needed some work, ending on the bottom of a small crater she had tumbled into.

<Carol> Carol followed the tether back to Cessily, "Need a hand down there?" She flew down to her and landed gently beside her, barely disturbing the dust though it was hardly noticable with the cloud Cessily had kicked up.

<Cessily> "Thanks, I'm okay!" Cessily took her friend's hand, the silver girl's grin turning mischievous an instant before she used her leverage to drag Carol overhead and into the dust with her.

<Carol> Carol squeaked and tumbled down on top of Cessily, laughing, "Evil!"

<Cessily> Cessily giggled and hugged Carol. "I'm sorry, but I had to." Flashing a grin, she let go of the other woman and spread out her arms and legs. "How else are we supposed to make moon-angels together?"

<Carol> She giggled along, "The dust is all in my hair! Also I kind of feel like I'm defacing some kind of monument..."

<Cessily> "Come on, have you taken a look around?" Cessily asked with a laugh and raised her head, making a swiping gesture at the cratered landscape. "You think all those meteors smashing up the place worry about that?"

<Carol> "Meteors don't have brains or money to have sued out of them..." Carol pointed out, "I keep wondering what would happen if there was someone looking through a telescope at the moon right now..."

<Cessily> "I think they'd need a pretty big one to see us," Cessily replied, looking up at the Earth in the sky. The thought alone seemed surreal and brought a smile to her face. "But if they do, they'll probably think that a couple of aliens tried to visit Earth, but missed because obviously they're idiots."

<Carol> Carol laughed, "No they just realised that Earth was full of dumbasses and couldn't be bothered to go the rest of the way." She nodded sagely, "I'm pretty convinced we're not alone in the universe and, if I was an alien, I wouldn't visit us."

<Cessily> "They'd be wiser to stay away," Cessily agreed, turning her head towards the vast, black, nothingness of space. "And should hope we never come to visit either." She giggled to herself to shoo away the dour moment. "But our food is pretty good. I'd totally come to Earth for our food."

<Carol> "Me too... but not the people, mostly the people are assholes.... but maybe aliens like assholes? Who knows? They're aliens...."

<Cessily> "Maybe they won't even come because of us at all." Cessily crossed the arms underneath her head. "What if they find our plants more interesting? Who knows, they could be, like, evolved trees or something."

<Carol> Carol considered this, her nose wrinkling, "They'd really hate me then, I'm always hitting trees with cars...."

<Cessily> "At least you're a better flier than you're a driver," Cessily replied, turning her head to grin at Carol. "I'm okay with hitting an obstacle every now and then, but I don't think I'd wanna get lost in space."

<Carol> "Oh I'm definitely better at flying than I am driving - I care more about flying."

<Cessily> "I'd be too, if I could fly to the moon." She smiled at the stars. "Makes you wonder how far you could really go."

<Carol> Carol turned her attention toward the stars, "Yeeeeah, but if I was going to test that I think I'd want more permanent company or I'd probably go a little crazy..."

<Cessily> "Well, you're in luck then." Cessily shot Carol a big grin. "Because you better don't even think about going out there without me."

<Carol> "I won't... unless I forget..." she grinned back. "So, wanna take some more pictures? We could go find the lunar module and the flag they left here from the first landing if you want?"

<Cessily> "Actually, I have a different idea," Cessily said and sat up, careful not to push herself off the ground in the low gravity. "I think I want to try something." Smiling at Carol, she reached behind her head to close the valve of her air supply.

<Carol> Carol raised an eyebrow, "What are we trying?"

<Cessily> "Taking off that silly helmet, of course." Cessily replied, not making it sound like a crazy idea, at all. She began turning the seal around the neckpiece. "You're not wearing one, either, so why should I?"

<Carol> "Well, mostly because I'm immune to temperature extremes... and the whole not needing to breathe for some reason..."

<Cessily> "Neither do I, and also I'm made of metal, so I'll be fine." She gave Carol a crooked grin. "Besides, if there's a chance to kiss you on the moon, I'm gonna take it." The air escaped from her helmet with a hiss.

<Carol> Carol caught hold of the suit in case the air pressure sent Cessily flying off somewhere. "Liquid metal... didn't want to take the risk of having to bring home a very pretty statue... they're not as good for conversation."

<Cessily> "Don't worry, but you should know vacuum is a good insulator." Cessily tried to share her confidence through a smile. "Don't worry, I'll be okay. Trust me." Releasing the unsealed helmet from its socket, she pulled it over her head. For a moment, there was only red hair everywhere.

<Carol> Carol reached out to brush it back away from Cessily's face, watching it floating around the way hers didn't.

<Cessily> Cessily marvelled at her crimson hair, twisting in wild patterns when not hindered by any air, before the moon's gentle pull made it came to rest across her shoulders and back. For a moment she sat still, waiting for any kind of strange thing to happen.

<Cessily> When nothing happened, she was surprised that space pretty much felt like... nothing. That made sense when she thought about it again.

<Carol> Carol cocked her head on one side, watching her for any signs of distress, "Everything okay?"

<Cessily> Cessily nodded with a little too much excitement, promptly causing another red flood. This time she used her shape-shifting to bend her hair back. "Told you I'd be fine," she replied, giving Carol an impish grin.

<Carol> "Well I'm very relieved," she smiled, sliding her arms around Cessily to pull her closer.

<Cessily> "I have an even better idea now." Cessily leaned into the embrace and put her fingers between Carol's. "How about instead of just sharing a kiss on the moon, we give the big telescopes down there really something to see?"

<Carol> Carol raised an eyebrow glancing around them, "We'll have to make sure not to let our clothes float off into space... and this dust is going to be worse than sand..."

<Cessily> "That's why we're going to lie on them." Cessily leaned close to claim her kiss, Earth's blue sphere reflected on her silver eyes.