And that wilderness was never clearer to Peppy then when he and Jim bundled up and ventured outside the next day. Couldn't stay out there long, wind was whipping around so fast, but wanted to get a whiff of what constituted fresh air here. Had a weird smell to it. Metallic.

Seemingly endless flat plains, all around them. No destinations, because it all looked the same. No distinguishing features, no landmarks. Like the wind had cut down and smoothed over everything in its path.

Just eroded everything away, and continued to do so, etching into the barren rocky surface. Could still see Lylat, smaller, more distant than he was used to, but also got a pretty majestic view of Aquas, giant in its nearness.

Looked over to see what Jim thought of it, sunglasses on, wind whipping the fur he hadn't managed to cover – Peppy himself had to stuff his ears down under his hat to keep 'em steady, never liked doing that, couldn't hear as well – only to find Jim already looking back at him. Knew he was feeling guilty.

"Ain't your fault, Jim." Could barely hear his own voice, over the howl of the wind, but he managed to catch Jim's reply.

"Didn't want to keep you from Lucy this long."

"You're away from Fox too."

"I know."

"Well, we can tell 'em all about it when we get back. Not everybody can say they've spent time on Eremi. We'll be the talk of the town."

"Always preferred doing my sightseeing up in the air… I know you're the same."

"We'll just have to make the most of it, then."

Jim nodded, and they made their way back inside, both sighing in relief to be out of the wind.

They got to know Lylat and Aquas' rises and falls, the arcs they took through the sky very well, as the days went on. Trying to adjust, settle in however temporarily, to the rhythms and schedule of Eremi.

Couldn't set their eating and sleeping to it, was too different from what they were used to, didn't match up. Didn't stop it from confusing them, but they were former military. They knew how to stick to a schedule. However unnatural it seemed.

He and Jim tried various things, to fill their days. Ate meals together, in the spacious cafeteria meant for a whole outfit of researchers and troops. Always ate at the same table.

Peppy was never a big fan of cooking, but he began wishing the food took longer to prepare, that they could actually get some good smelling cooking going on in here, because as it was, it was just a bunch of gleaming stainless steel surfaces that weren't getting used.

The lounge was a little homier, though still had the same problem, a space meant for a whole lot more people than just he and Jim. Made it hard to get the spacing with each other worked out. Looked ridiculous to sit so far away from each other, but also felt like they were crowding each other when they got too near; why get so close when they had all that space to spread out.

And their voices were always echoing, regardless of where they were. Peppy experimented with his volume, to see if he could get it to stop the sound rattling around, but it didn't matter, nothing worked.

Was worst out in the hangar and they spent quite a bit of time in there. Most familiar place for them, with their Arwings, even if they couldn't fly, and even if the hangar was the coldest room in the place.

As Pigma had predicted, Peppy couldn't help messing around with things. Was a habit of his. Had to do it so long, trying to keep his not so trusty jalopy running one more day, but he'd also spent plenty of time fixing farm equipment that had gone bust, fences that had fallen down, and his endeavors hadn't been limited to only the barn. Crooked doors, leaky faucets, banging pipes, cracked tiles, faulty wiring, chipped paint, you name it, he'd done it in that old farmhouse.

Never did learn how to sew though.

But he'd learned one had to be in the right state of mind to do things like that. There were plenty of times he'd been worn slap out, should have left well enough alone and had only made more work for himself. But there were other times when he was tinkering with something to take his mind off something else he was nervous about, only to the same effect. Ended up with something more messed up than when he began.

Started to get better, realizing he was doing that, and could realize he was doing that now, with the Arwing. Pigma was right, he didn't have what he needed to fix her up. Wasn't helping matters, what he was doing. At the rate he was going, was only going to end up increasing the number of repairs she'd have to undergo.

Jim knew it too. Looked relieved when he switched to just cleaning up some of the controls.

"Was making you nervous, wasn't I?" Peppy asked him conversationally afterwards.

"Figured you'd work yourself out." was Jim's short reply, but Peppy continued.

"Naw, you were about ready to tell me quit it, I bet."

"…Pretty close, yeah."

Was a pretty good joke actually, this whole thing. He and Jim had always been two sky devils, and now they were stuck on the ground. Couldn't even catch a ride with somebody else.

They didn't spend all their time together though. Did split up, and started doing that more and more, as the days went by. Was easy to lose track of each other in a place like this. Only rule they laid down was letting each other know if they were going outside, and they'd agreed not to wander off. They knew some basic first aid, but they couldn't risk getting hurt or lost this far off the beaten path.

In this place that had none of the usual smells, only that sort of sterile, metallic smell that now Peppy could detect indoors as well, Peppy started noticing Jim's scent becoming more apparent, and that it smelled more like a… well more like a fox. Barely worth a passing thought, really.

Just that he knew when Jim had been somewhere, could even hazard a guess as to how long ago it'd been. Tried to pay it no mind, but every time he picked it up, it gave him a bit of a startle. Again, nothing to worry about. Was just Jim. Jim was a fox. Figured that out pretty early on about him.

Was nothing new.

They still met up in the cafeteria, and the lounge from time to time. Browsed some of the reading material folks stocked the shelves with. Even found some dirty mags stashed away. Somebody's idea of a joke probably, leavin' it here.

That's what you get when your army's a bunch of dogs.

Found a battered set of checkers somebody'd left behind, some playing cards as well. Those helped pass the time, but the quiet, desolation was getting to him, then full on got him, and that bugged him. Wasn't like him, to spook so easily. He spent a good chunk of his time flying at high speeds. Wasn't the first alien world he'd seen or even stepped foot on.

Except when he looked out the windows, and saw nothing between him and that strange horizon, with Aquas looming heavy over it all, dominating the sky, and heard that wind that he couldn't see, 'cause it had nothing to push against except itself, and he knew that the entire moon was like this, that if he could walk across the whole thing he would only find more of these expanses of rock, slowly being torn apart by this never-ending wind with nobody to witness it, just he and Jim, and heck if it didn't something to him. Something not so good.

Found he started avoiding the windows.

The cold was getting to him too. Was maybe 50 degrees in here. Wasn't terrible. Hadn't really noticed it at first. Was okay with all the layers on. Even took them off at times, they were bulky, was nice to go lighter, but as the days passed, he noticed even with all that, he wasn't comfortable. Would have thought he'd be adjusting, getting used to it. Instead, he was just getting worse.

More than he wanted to admit. Just couldn't get warm, even under all his layers in his bunk. Tried running laps around the place just to get some blood moving. Or drinking warm water. Ate more.

That all helped, but only for a time.

Noticed Jim was eating more too. Was about the only struggle Peppy sensed from him here. That and keeping his sunglasses on. Peppy figured it just made his eyes a little less cold.

Yep, stoic as ever, Jim was. Pigma, if he'd been here, would be complaining nonstop, but he and Jim weren't really the complaining type.

Though that only made it worse, as more days passed and Peppy just couldn't get this chill under control. His muscles were tense during the day then sore at night, then just sore all the time. Got to the point where he felt like he was always just about to start shaking, but never did. His nerves were fried too, little noises were making him jump, and there were a lot of weird noises here. The sounds of this station running itself.

Started to wonder if this was maybe more in his head than anything, but all of it just made him want to stay in bed.

'Cept when he did that he couldn't sleep.

Just laid awake, listening.

And finally one fitful night, flip flopping all around in the covers, when time was being all topsy turvy, when Peppy couldn't get a lock on anything, where not even his photos and his memories were helping him out, weren't lightening the load that the silence and the wind and being in this tiny box of a dorm, surrounded by the larger boxes of rooms that made up this crazy research station on this backwoods moon Eremi was causing him, he had an equally crazy idea of what might help. Actually, had to give credit where credit was due.

It was Pigma's crazy idea.

Only question he had to ask himself was, was he actually desperate enough to try it?