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Language:
English
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Published:
2024-06-30
Completed:
2024-07-03
Words:
840
Chapters:
5/5
Comments:
38
Kudos:
138
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5
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Summer Is A-Coming In

Summary:

Reacclimating to Preservation Life under the summer sun: a post-System Collapse ficlet collection.

Notes:

Written from the Made-Up Fic Title prompt from the wonderful BWizard! ❤

I've been wanted to experiment more with micro-fics, but limiting myself to 100 words quickly became 150 words, then 200 or less words. Baby steps, I guess!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Three

Chapter Text

Warm rain washed over the street below in heavy, blowing sheets. It was common during this season on Preservation, according to Dr. Ratthi. Three watched groups of humans scatter for shelter, some laughing and intentionally splashing through the rising puddles while others sprinted for cover with jackets pulled over their heads. It was an odd feeling to not be responsible for any of them—or for anyone in general. Bad weather had always meant extra work for it before, given the need to secure valuable equipment and protect the humans from hazardous conditions. 

Now, it was only responsible for sitting ( sitting , which was a whole different thought spiral) in Pin-Lee's dry, comfortable planetside office while she drew up another section of its endless refugee paperwork. Humidity fogged the windows and the rain pounded on the roof in a calm, steady rhythm. Three sat idle with its elbows propped on the windowsill.

It was…strange.

 It was nice .

Chapter 2: Amena

Chapter Text

Of all the things that had changed while she was away, Amena was grateful that the hammock wasn’t one of them. It was still strung up between two oaks at the far end of the south pasture. Amena could lie there, swaying in the hot summer breeze as she stared up into the canopy of rustling leaves and pretended that nothing had changed. 

Everywhere else on the farm, the changes were too stark to ignore. Her siblings had all grown a few inches each. A new tertiary greenhouse had sprung up behind the barn. Seeded fields had sprung up into shoulder-high stalks. The span of one ill-fated survey and a kidnapping had rendered Amena's home a far different place than the one she'd left.

But, she supposed, the farm wasn’t all that had changed. 

Amena scrolled through another page of the PSUMNT catalog, marking one program after another, and dreamed.

Chapter 3: Arada

Chapter Text

There is no part of Arada that wants to make choices of any kind right now.

After the rounds of debriefs and reports and follow-up questions that have filled the days since the team's return, she is spent. Wrung out like an antique dishrag. When she thinks of the choices still ahead of her, she's tempted to join Volescu in retirement.

“Mango or lemon?”

Well. Most of the choices. 

Overse chewed her bottom lip as she squinted against the noon sun to see the sorbet shack's menu. Her fingers tapped a lazy rhythm where they laced with Arada's, a steady, grounding reminder of where they were and how low the stakes of this particular moment were.

“I'm leaning mango,” Overse continued. “But I swear they didn't have lemon before, and my curiosity is piqued.”

“I'll get mango if you get lemon,” Arada said, listing sideways to prop her chin on Overse's shoulder. “We can go halfsies from there?”

“Deal.”

Chapter 4: Thiago

Chapter Text

If anyone had a right to say “I told you so,” it was Ayda. 

Fortunately for Thiago, his sister-in-law was not prone to pettiness. She had welcomed him back to the farm with open arms and a quiet offer to recommend a trauma treatment program when he was ready and not before. She knelt beside him now, knees digging into the soft dirt of the kitchen garden and gloved hands deep in the tangle of tomato vines. The sun beat down on them, a warm and reassuring weight that Thiago hadn’t realized he missed after so long in space or under alien stars. The world was still and slow and quiet. It felt…odd…after months of rush and panic and fear. Thiago still felt off-balance and out-of-step, even after more than a month at home. Whatever he might have once thought, healing—even being ready to heal—was uniquely fickle.

When Ayda’s hand pressed against his shoulder, it struck him that he’d been holding the same fresh-picked tomato for the last two minutes.

“Take it one day at a time.”

Chapter 5: Bharadwaj

Chapter Text

“Was it…happy?” Bharadwaj ventured, as the three of them crossed from boardwalk to sand. She looped one arm through Ratthi’s and the other through Gurathin’s, half to support her bad leg on the unsteady footing and half because it was comfortably companionable. Dinner at the wharf had been, too, if heavy with relief that the whole team was safely home. Or at, least, almost the whole team.

“As happy as I've ever seen it,” Ratthi said, pausing to kick off his shoes to let his toes sink into the sand. “Which, for Secunit, is…complicated. But I doubt it would’ve agreed to sail off into the sunset with Perihelion if it didn't like the idea.”

“And it was…stable…when it agreed to that?” 

“ Gurathin .”

“I'm not trying to be inflammatory, I promise.” Gurathin raised his free hand in surrender. “But you did say it had just had an emotional collapse. It's an uncharacteristic choice.”

“But a choice, nonetheless,” Bharadwaj said, thoughtful, as she watched the sunset shift and ripple on the incoming tide. Predictable and unpredictable, all wrapped up together. Just as it should be. “For Secunit, that's the important part.”

Notes:

Thank you for reading!