The Seed and The Star - Reboot

In a distant universe far from our own, there sat a small, sad little planet covered in green. The world was so small in fact; it’d barely take a day’s time to get around it.

At the topmost pole of this planet was a strange, otherworldly building in the center. With towers glowing in a soft rainbow of hues, and a dim five-pointed star nestled atop a large glass dome on its roof.

And then, out from this building’s front doors, a large- gumdrop like creature traipsed out into the open.

It was the dead of night, and this aqua-colored abnormality was shambling his way across the field; kicking up glimmers of glowing dew with his legs as he walked to the only other landmark in sight.

A small tree, barely any taller than him.

“Lemme guess, you don’t feel like talkin’, again?” The creature huffed at the shrub.

“Just whAT exactly is your deal with me still? How dj-…” He paused mid-sentence, trying to quell his frustration as his cheeks puffed out like balloons for a moment. “-HOW many centuries have I been doin’ this now??”

“EVERY night since I’ve been here, it’s been the same daNG THING with you!“ He wailed, throwing his arms about in anger before starting to pace back and forth.

“I trY to be polite! I tRY to say hi once in a while- I trrYYY to start a simple conversation,

but you-

you jus’ keep on givin’ mE THAT STUPID SILENT TREATMENT!” He said with an accusing jab, the little tree standing un-phased.

When the creature saw he was getting no response, the tension flushed out of his body. His shoulders went limp, and his knees buckled down to let him collapse into the ground. Little glowing sparks fluttered around his body before settling down into the soil, as their shimmer caught in the glassy reflection of his eyes.

“_{M’ dad would’ve said something back…}” He murmured in a very soft, drained voice, before looking up towards the sky where the stars were out dancing in the night. “He could say anYTHING back if I was still with ‘im-” He whimpered, his voice beginning to choke as he looked back to the ground, tucking both his arms around the sides of his chest.

“_{I wouldn’t be aloNE anYmoRe if I was wiTh ‘im…}” He cried in a whisper.

His sobs were no louder than the gentle breeze whistling across the night, but that somber moment would be cut short for him, when a flash of light flew over his head.

He lurched up in confusion, watching as leaves from the little tree began fluttering towards the ground while something rustled around in its branches. There was a strange yellow glow poking through the brush, so he stood himself up to get a closer view.

Smearing the tears off his face, he tried to reach through and see what exactly was inside-

only to find a creature no bigger than his own pinky.

“W-…Whu-“ He barely stammered out, before falling back onto the ground as the little lightbulb startled him with her sudden wailing. He stared in bewilderment for a while, but his breathing slowed when he began to recognize the noise that she was making.

That was…

Crying.

Quickly he lurched up to catch the small glowing bundle before she could fall to the ground, watching as she gently rolled into the palm of his hand.

“Yu-… Y-you’re alive… aren’t- chu?” He stammered in confusion, leaning back down in the grass while pulling her up for a closer look.

Her crying settled into a quiet snivel, while her small disembodied limbs floated about and waddled in the air. Her entire figure looked like it was made of starlight. It was translucent and delicate, with what he assumed was her torso showing a little white star beating softly like a heart, and she had a head of golden hair with a nearly identical shape.

The larger being had seen insects or other critters as big as her in the past, but never anything that could emote quite like her. He’s still trying to wrap his head around whether she could even acknowledge him or not.

But he had a way to find out.

“Uhm… h-hello?” He asked, wriggling the fingers of his free hand in an awkward wave. The little one gazed over immediately at the noise, which made him utter a bashful giggle in disbelief. “I-I uhm…. I- I’m Goro.~” He stammered. This time there wasn’t as much of a response, though she seemed to make a little grunt, fidgeting around on her back until she flopped over to the side.

Goro rubbed the back of his head for a moment, unsure of what to do. Wanting to at least still make out her face, he reached a finger out to turn her over in his palm. The second that she started to feel herself moving however, she began to make a fuss. Her little floating limbs latched around his fingertip in protest, but in a brief moment the child’s anger subsided. His fingertip felt as soft as a cloudy pillow on her cheek, and she began snuggling her head into it while closing her eyes firmly shut.

Goro wasn’t sure why, but whatever small words he could think to say aloud were choked back in his throat. Seeing this little creature acknowledging him in sOME way other than utter silence had caused tears to swell up in his eyes, and a big smile to stretch across his cheeks.

It was a little hard getting himself up without both hands, but once he did he briefly glanced back at the tree. He glared at it intently, as if he had something to get off his chest, but he decided to just let out a disappointed sigh, turning back around to head inside for the night.

He shoved at the creaky doors of his “home” with the top of his shoulder, making sure to let neither of his hands move from where the baby was cradled. It was uncomfortably dark, but somehow bringing this child into the space made it have a warmer glow than it had before.

He tiptoed his way forward with his eyes squinted tight. While his vision seemed normal apart from its eerie yellow glow, his left pupil was entirely scrambled, which made it VERY hard to find his bearings in the night. This building had a COUNTLESS number of bedrooms though, for whatever strange reason. So if he could just make his way to one, he could at least settle down to keep watch of his new friend.

But she wasn’t making the trip easy for him. Her little palms seemed to grab and prod at his finger for attention, with her entire body shivering as a whimper escaped from her throat.

“W-w-what’s wrong lil sprout??” He pled towards her, with her fussing only growing worse. He attempted to pull his upper hand away, but that only seemed to sour her mood.

“C-…c’mon………. you gotta give me something to work with kid!

A-are you sleepy?

Or uh… uhh…………

_{what other kindsa junk do creatures need-}“ He pondered aloud, turning in circles to see if something tossed out in the room could somehow spark his memory. The child meanwhile continued to pull at his hand in frustration; burying herself under his finger like a blanket.

“Oh…?

….o-OH

Y-YOU’RE COLD” He finally blurted in realization.

“Hooooooo_ooooooh okay… oK ok you’re cold- Y-youuuu need something to keep warm with…

W-wuh- whudo critters use to stay warm with…uh…” He stammered about, oblivious to how much warmth his own self could give off with the large fire brewing in his otherwise hollow gut.

“…Fur.” He suddenly blurted. “Furry stuff’s warm… I think.” He said ‘confidently’ as he skittered down the hallway.

“Wheeeeere do they keep fluffy things in this place? I know I’ve seen em’ on a chair or someth-“ Goro was cut off mid-sentence, as his face smashed into a wall he could’ve SWORN was much further away.

The second that he hit, the little spark flew out from his palm and onto the open floor. Her descent was a strangely slow one, bouncing gently like a leaf that just fell out of a tree, but she was jostled nevertheless as her little body spun onto the slick flooring below.

Goro stammered back with a hand pressed to his forehead, his eyes fluttering open as he got his bearings back. His alertness QUICKLY returned to him though when it registered the child was now sniveling on the ground. With his eyes widened and his shoulders hunched up, he fumbled over himself to try to make it back to her side.

“haahAAAAAAhhhhh… shhhshhSHHSHhshhshhh i-i-it’s okay iT’S oKAY l-lil guy, I’m r-right here.” He stammered as he slid up to her on his knees, slowly scooping her up while she continued to wriggle and pout, with little sputtering hiccups in-between her cries.

He couldn’t tell if she was hurt or not, but he had to do sOMETHING to try and fix this. He didn’t even bother to stand himself up again and try searching in this darkness. Instead he opted to grip the edge of his pants and tear a piece off to wrap around her as gently as he could; pleading in the back of his mind that this SOMEHOW would do any good.

How the heck would he know though? He’s not taken care of anybody before.

He barely knows how to take care of his own self.

He barely even knows what hE is!

It was probably a stupid idea to grab her from that branch to begin with, but deep down he fiercely wanted to believe it wasn’t just some coincidence. All the while he was holding back tears just so he could still see, which the little one seemed to notice. Her own cries seemed to steadily fade away as she chose to listen intently to his own.

When he finished bundling her up, she prodded at his hand once more to try and lean herself upright. With an almost ‘determined’ expression she began squirming up onto the side of his finger and slowly pulling herself across his wrist cuff. Nervously he tried to scoop her off and back into his hand, but she wasn’t very interested in cooperating. He was too afraid of injuring her any further, so after a few failed attempts he merely sat back and watched as the little starlight climbed up to her destination.

Once she got atop of his shoulder, she gripped onto the side of his cheek, staring him right in the eye. He was tempted to grab her away, but he merely braced his hand beneath her to watch what would happen.

Then, very gently, she started to nuzzle her face against his. Almost like she was trying to-

Hug him.

He didn’t know how, or why, but somehow that little action was enough to break his heart- and warm it back up at the same time.~

Goro gently clutched both his hands up around the child, blubbering like an idiot as he held back his tears so he didn’t drown the poor thing.

“ihI’M gonna d-do my b-buh-best to keep you safe, o-o-ohkAy? uh-I prhoMisE.~” He stammered, with the little one smiling in response.