Ariadne | Druig | On Hold

Ch. 07: friendship bracelets

Present- Iraq

All the eternals, now including Phastos, go in search of Makkari and the Domo. Ariadne is excited to see her long lost friend, it's been a long time since she last saw her other best friend.

Sprite using her illusion powers keeps them hidden while Druig controls the humans uncovering the Domo to leave. Sprite uncovers them and they continue walking, Ari on Druig's right, her arm wrapped around his, his hands in his pockets.

Phastos using his technology brings the Domo from under ground while Karun records and whispers the words, "the Domo."

While they walk through the halls Kingo says into the camera, "a foreboding atmosphere fills the air. An eerie stillness chokes our lungs."

"What are you doing? You know you're creeping us out. You know that, right?" Right after Phastos says that something pops making him freak out, shouting, "Oh! Oh, God! Stay calm, T, please!" He grabs Thena trying to save her, but nervously chuckles when he finds out it was a chip bag, "Chips. It's just chips."

Ari laughs, making Druig turn to her with a look in his eyes.

"As you can see, being an Eternal does not preclude you from having human emotions such as cowardice," Kingo adds to the camera making Ari laugh again.

They walk into Phastos' old lab with him saying, "What has she done? Is that... a sarcophagus in my lab?"

Ari squeals and runs for Makkari, her running for Ari too. They hug while Kingo introduces Makkari, "this is Makkari. Or should I say Miss Havisham? None of us have seen her for centuries."

'Ready to go home?' Makkari asks in sign language once Ari lets her go. They all give her a look making her deflate.

~~~

Kingo offered to tell Makkari everything. Ari walks around looking at everything moving back to the entrance. When she hears Druig's voice she turns towards him. "Did you see Makkari ended up scoring this Emerald Tablet, my beautiful, beautiful Ariadne."

"Wait really? Let me see it," she comments back, getting excited, reaching for it.

"Oh, I don't think so," he jokes with a smile, pulling it out of reach. Her short height makes her jump trying to grab it, but gets interrupted by Phastos, "I'm sorry, what are we watching? Because this..."

"Is this new?" Kingo asks, wagging a finger between the two. Ari on her tiptoes almost loses balance, but Druig wraps an arm around her waist, the other still holding the tablet.

"Are you two..."

"Because I hate it."

"Phastos, I need to control the mind of a Celestial," Druig stops them, handing Ari the tablet his arm still around her. She smiles all her attention turning to the object.

"Okay, get ready for it," Phastos brings up gold images of bracelets.

Confusedly, Kingo asks, "bracelets? You made us bracelets?"

"Are they friendship bracelets?" Ari excitedly asks looking up from the tablet while Druig smiles at her. Her catching him smiles back making his face heat up and turn his head away quickly.

"So, here's a little Celestial 101. Celestials are the most powerful energy generators in the universe," Phastos talks, but Druig nudges her shoulder making her smile at him and turn away. But he continues doing it making her smile at him again, him returning it. "When Arishem made us, he imbued us with infinite cosmic energy to keep our bodies regenerating. The bracelets, in theory, shut down our regeneration process. And once that happens, our bodies accumulate extra cosmic energy."

"What for?" Sersi speaks up.

"Well, if the Deviants can absorb our energy, what if we can absorb each other's energy as well? If I can find a way to connect us all, one of us could become immensely powerful, pulling the accumulated energy from the rest, forming... a UniMind," Phastos smiles proudly at his idea and continues when no one shows his level of enthusiasm. '"Uni" meaning "one," "mind" meaning "mind."'

"Oh, no, we heard you the first time," Kingo tells him, but Sprite continues, "terrible name."

"We'll brainstorm..."Brainstorm"! That's a way better name!" Ari had to agree, it was a better name. Not that she didn't like UniMind because she would never want to hurt her friends feelings. She's soft like that, one of the many things Druig loves about her.

"No, I invented it, so I'm calling it whatever I want."

'So suppose Druig can, say... put Tiamut to sleep. Then what?" Makkari asks in sign language.

"We find humans a new home on another planet," Sersi answers.

"Are we building a big ship, too? Take a pair of each animal?" Ariadne never really liked Sprite, but would never tell her that, or anyone. Of course Druig knew though, he knew how she acted around people well enough to know when she's tired, uncomfortable, or just doesn't like the person.

"Well, you know what's never saved the planet? Your sarcasm," Phastos says, making Ari laugh.

"Space colonization could take decades."

"It can happen quickly with our help," Sersi tells them.

"What if we end up accidentally killing Tiamut? We could be responsible for billions of lives not being created across the universe. Boss, am I right?" Kingo asks Ikaris.

"Say something, Ikaris," Sprite pleads. "You don't think we should be doing this."

After a while Ikaris finally answers saying, "Ajak chose Sersi to lead us. Sersi should decide."

"Forget who Ajak chose. You're the strongest. You should be making this decision. Fine. Just keep lying to yourself," Sprite walks out of the room with Ikaris walking out after her, "Sprite."

"Okay, this is not..." Phastos begins, but gets interrupted.

"Ikaris."

"Don't run after him. Kingo, I... You guys." He sighs giving up.

Ari gives him a comforting smile and turns to her best friend. "Yes?" He warringly asks.

"Do you think octopus tastes good? I imagine it must be weird cause the sponges could get stuck to the roof of your mouth. What do you do then? Put your fingers in your mouth and pry it off and continue eating it? No thanks, that's weird," he just laughs at her and grabs her hand bringing them to a table to sit on while she continues to ramble.

A/N:

Hey it's been awhile. Sorry bout that, just some personal things came up and I didn't have time to write. I'll try getting the remaining chapters out soon, but it might take a little while. Again sorry.

Till we meet again,

-E