TWs: Brief arguing, feelings of defeat, unresolved issues. Stay safe :)
"You want us to help you track down a NovaStar drifting in the far parts of the Kuiper Belt?" Sedna raised an eyebrow.
"NovaStars are bigger than us. What good can we do?" Quaoar asked.
"I just need someone to locate it." Neptune smiled, tilting his head as he clasped his hands together, "Please help me, it's a present for Nine."
"N-"
"Sure." Sedna interrupted Salacia's disagreement.
"What? Sedna, the lunatic literally forced us to do his bidding and almost destroyed you!"
"No, well, yes- but he's trying his best to make it up to me. He leaves around diamond debris with messages carved into them."
"An apology doesn't make up for everything that someone did wrong, Sedna."
"I know, it doesn't! But look, in the end, he found your moons wandering the edge of the Heliosphere, doesn't that account for something?"
Salacia was quiet before huffing, "I still don't trust him."
"And it's fine not trusting anyone!" Neptune butted in on the conversation, "Nine understands that he's not... well-liked at the moment, but that doesn't mean we can exclude him from everything that happens here! He's one of us, and as such, he'll be treated like the rest of us ought to treat him."
The smallest Dwarf Celestial slowly nodded, "I suppose you're right."
"Huh." Sedna tilted her head, "I heard all kinds of stories about you guys from Nine, but he didn't mention how good you are at giving advice, Neptune."
"Oh, it's nothing! Just a lot of time in isolation tends to make you speak without thinking."
"Are we done here? Can we find that thing you're looking for now? I hate doing nothing." Quaoar grunted.
"Patience, Quaoar, grab Gonggong and Orcus for us, will ya?" Salacia shooed him away.
"I'm going, I'm going... jeez." The oblong Celestial uttered as he flew away.
"I should get going as well." Neptune hummed, "I'm going to try to get Triton to help- he's one of the fastest moons out there!"
"Sounds good, right, Salacia?" Sedna turned to the other.
"Yep, whatever, as long as nobody gets in my way." Salacia crossed her arms, eyes piercing through the void only to soften upon noticing her moon's deflated expression, "I don't mean you, Actaea."
The moon perked up, smiling. Actaea didn't speak very often, opting to only talk to certain bodies, such as her planet and two fellow moons. It had a term on Earth called 'selective mutism.' Salacia acted as her voice, telling others the moon's opinion on subjects.
"I have to say, your moon is so adorable!" Neptune leaned down, blinking one eye and then the other at the small moon.
Actaea squeaked, moving behind Salacia and grabbing her arm, muttering something under her breath.
Salacia patted her on the head, giving her a smile, "She says thank you."
Neptune grinned, "I'll see you guys soon, then! If you run into any trouble, just yell!"
Before the Dwarf Celestials could ask, the blue Giant Celestial flew off.
"Just yell...?" Salacia uttered, "What good will that do?"
"Who knows with Neptune?" Sedna shrugged, "He's on a different plane of existence- not that that's a bad thing."
Actaea watched Neptune disappear within the debris and rubble, eyes full of wonder and curiosity. Soon, she would tell Vanth and Weywot about the carefree Celestial.
« × »
"And you are... Epimetheus?" Saturn guessed, squinting at one of his irregular moons. Seeing the moon in question nod, the Giant smiled, "A-ha! Another one down, 127 of them to go..."
"Hey, Saturn, what're ya up to?" Jupiter drifted up to the other, peering at the hundred and some moons before them.
"Hello, Jupiter! I'm just trying to match the moon with the name since I can be a bit forgetful when it comes to names." Saturn flipped through his notepad, "Who's next?"
Another irregular moon shifted forward, and its surface was less damaged than most of Saturn's moons.
"Hm... you are..." Saturn flipped through his notepad, "Telesto?"
"Mhm!" The moon bobbed up and down, retreating to its spot before.
"And that's another one! How am I doing so far, Titan?"
Titan kept a tally of every mistake and correct answer the Gas Giant made, marking another tally mark down, "You got seven right."
"Out of...?"
"Nineteen." Titan frowned.
Saturn winced, his expression falling, "Well, it looks like I'm not any closer to guessing them all correctly."
"Don't worry, Saturn, I'm sure you'll get better as time goes on. How many did you get wrong last time?" Jupiter questioned.
"Seventy-three," Saturn uttered, his sphere flushed as he averted his gaze.
"And before that?"
"Eighty-nine...? What are you getting at?"
"Eighty-nine, seventy-three, and I bet you'll get less of them wrong this time."
"What makes you so sure?" Saturn raised an eyebrow.
"Trust me on this, Saturn. You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for."
Saturn opened his mouth to speak, yet nothing came out. He gazed into Jupiter's eyes unblinkingly. Despite being void eyes of white, Saturn couldn't turn away, and neither could Jupiter.
Jupiter broke eye contact upon hearing yelling in the distance. He glanced over to where his moons were situated, seeing that an argument was breaking out among his A-Team. He sighed, "I'll be right back, just have to take care of something."
"A-Alright." Saturn found himself stuttering over his words. He shook his sphere, blinking as he watched the bigger planet leave, 'Oh my- what was that...?'
"That was hard to watch," Enceladus uttered.
"You're telling me..." Iapetus nodded.
« × »
The Sun spun the flames in his palm, watching the blaze race up his arms and elbows, before returning to his palms.
So much had happened in the span of a couple of weeks; Nine had a plan to destroy the Solar System, the Stars gave the Sun another chance, and they hung around for a bit until they had to leave- something about how the gravity they gave off could off-balance the orbits of everyone else and either obliterate them or throw them out into the depths of space, so they left as to prevent that from happening, and everything went back to normal.
Sort of.
Sun had invited Nine to the planet meetings, yet Neptune always returned with a small smile and knitted eyebrows, telling him; "Not this time, sorry."
It was obvious why Nine kept declining to see the others; with the way Jupiter and Saturn were so tense around him or even when someone mentioned his name. It was obvious they didn't want to see him.
But the Sun knew the three of them had to talk or else their issues were never going to get resolved.
He clenched his fist, crushing the blaze in his grasp. At this point, it looked like the Sun would have to do an intervention for them.
After all, who could say no to the Sun? He was the Guardian of the Solar System, he wasn't going to let his planets not communicate.
Though a part of him wished they resolved their issues themselves.
He crossed his arms, gazing into the distance, 'Let's get started then...'
« NOTE »
Sprinkle in a bit of Jupiturn~
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