Tribute Masterbook: Binary, Fuschia, Aldrin in Voidrae: Exploration

Binary followed along with Fuschia and Aldrin as the three of them searched each room of the mansion. The trio had scoured the library once Fuschia calmed down, but only found the spines of the books Bazooka had been handing that mystery raptor. Following that, they’d exited and started back towards the main entrance. They’d been joined by a sullen and silent hawk female who had glared at them and puffed her dusty brown feathers. Her orange and blue wings had lashed out at them when they approached, so they;d decided to ignore her and move onward. 

 

Binary had caught a flash of a red and gold tail tip vanishing into the room down, but by the time she caught up and mentioned it, Bazooka’s trail was gone. The trio decided to check each door between the entrance and the library. The immediate next one had been a slightly smaller room with a few more books, some journals, and a desk. Aldrin had labeled it as a “den”, something humans considered to be a private work space. Binary tilted her head at that one.

Dens are for sleeping, she mused to herself. How weird humans are! The hawk had picked up something off the desk and stashed it in a small bag as she followed them. Binary watched as she placed a small token with a depiction of the night sky, moonless, in the same spot. Strange.

The next room Fuschia called a closet. It was extremely small, fitting only a few human garments that were being eaten by several moths. Aldrin took the time to bow to the moths and call them “emissaries of Galyx” and insisted they were there to make sure the trio found their witness again. Fuschia had gasped as the weight of their situation hit her again, dashing to the next room. Binary had simply hummed, watching one of the small insects flap lethargically towards a nearby moon beam. Cute. Or it was, until the little brown hawk had chased it and eaten it. The closet was similarly marked with another space themed token.

The third room had taken much longer to search. A grand archway led into a room full of funny shaped nest pads the shinier raptors had called “chairs” and “couches”. Binary winced at the state of the curtains in the room. From what she could make out, the curtains had once been decorated with each of the cosmic powers. One side held Daius and Nokt, the other held Galyx and the void. Aldrin ignored the curtains in favor of jumping up on one of the couches.

“Hey! I see footprints in the dust!” he called. Binary and Fuschia jumped up on their own furniture to look. Sure enough, the ladies could see large tracks in the dirt. The perfect size to be their grumpy Witness! The hawk watched them from her perch on a curtain rod, tilting her head as Aldrin leapt down, trotting into the adjacent room. Binary was sure the hawk had grinned when she saw the raptor looking at her. 

 

As Fuschia followed, Binary paused to look up at the ceiling. She loved the pattern carved into the tiles. An artistic rendition of outer space, with the floor carrying a similar void- looking motif. Where Bazooka’s prints had scoured away the dirt, the floor was pitch black with white speckles. Binary took an extra long look at the room, deciding to pattern her own den the same way when she got back. First though, she had to finish this whole “Impress the cosmic powers” thing, which meant catching Bazooka. Great. Binary darted after her companions, missing the third space themed token being placed.

Aldrin had led the trio into a large kitchen. The floor was relatively dust free compared to the other rooms they’d been in. Binary frowned as she noticed that, nudging Fuschia to point it out to her too. Aldrin picked up on the strange detail as well. Fuschia leaned down to investigate closer.

“He was… looking for something?” she mused.

“But what would he want in this dusty old kitchen?” Aldrin asked. Fuschia frowned deeper.

“Whatever he wants, it had to do with the floor. Was he covering tracks for that weirdo?” the blue raptor asked. Aldrin shook his head.

“He’d have done that in the living room too, and we didn’t see that guy’s tracks out there. Can’t smell him anywhere either.”

“What if he’s looking for a passage?” Binary asked. She eyed a rug that had been clearly placed back wrong. The discoloration of the floor compared to a straight line next to the fabric indicated where the rug had once sat. “That’s not where it belongs.” She pointed at the rug.

“If there’s a door under there, how would he have gotten the rug back nearly right?” Aldrin asked, shaking his head.

Fuschia straightened with a triumphant cry. “He was looking for the passage, and it’s not under that one!” she exclaimed. “It’s gonna be somewhere else! Okay, split up and search! If something’s back not quite where it belongs, ignore it. It’ll be a dead end and only good for a reminder of where he’s not. We’ve gotta look at stuff that’s either wildly out of place or back exactly where it belongs!” Aldrin nodded at his partner.

“Good plan,” he agreed.

“I’ll take this end then,” Binary said, already moving down to the far end of the kitchen. There, it merged with a still-dusty pantry, meaning whatever Bazooka had been after was found before he got down to there. Binary started trailing back towards Aldrin, who’d taken the middle of the kitchen. She kept her head low to the floor so she could spot any changes in dust levels. Fuschia was opening cabinets and drawers that Bazooka couldn’t have possibly fit into at the head of the kitchen. The hawk didn’t take a single segment. Instead, she stood on top of the long island counter in the middle of the fancy kitchen, dropping her fourth themed space token.

Binary focused back on the floor, putting the little hawk out of her mind for the moment. Oh! The dust changed right here! Binary squeaked as she turned to the left. She was greeted by a seemingly blank wall, but the trail dead-ended at that wall. Binary trotted closer as Aldrin and Fuschia moved behind her. The female hawk jumped down, fluttering over to look as well. The black and green female squinted, wondering why Bazooka’s path went into the wall. She inched closer, noticing a piece of the floor shifted under her weight.

“Aha!” she whooped, darting toward the wall. Fuschia and Aldrin followed her, excited about this new development. The wall swung open slowly. Something clicked as the raptors filed in. The wall door swung closed behind them. Now they were shrouded in the dark again. As their eyes adjusted, Binary noticed the hawk hadn’t come in with them. She had a funny feeling about all this. Fuschia spotted a small beam of light in front of them.

“Up there!” she said. Her voice was quiet. Binary lowered herself, slinking forward and taking the lead. Aldrin followed with Fuschia taking the rear. With every step, Binary’s feathers raised bit by bit. As the trio approached, the light grew blinding until they emerged outside of the mansion, the full moon shining down on them. Binary paused, confused. The moon wasn’t full when they went in! How long had they been in there?

And there, up ahead, stood the harpia they had been following. He was glaring down at them from a large rock he had perched on.

“That was pathetic,” he grumbled. “Awful trackers, the lot of ya. However, I will admit, you’re better than the last set I led through there. Now. You three need to do one final task, with Nokt herself as our witness!” Bazooka raised one red and gold wing towards the sky, the moon seeming to inch closer at his gesture.

“Impress us,” he demanded, his eyes flashing in the dim light. “Or else.”