The Rendering Pit - Epilogue, Rigel (Patreon)

This epilogue written by RabidBadger! We thank you for your continued support, you've helped make this series what it is <3

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Rigel took a slow breath. The air down in the underworks was humid, but not unpleasant. If anything he rather liked it, possibly moreso now that he was whatever he was. The room’s other inhabitants seemed to enjoy it too, some more than others, but then a lot of them didn’t actually have proper skin anymore.

“S-so what happened? Sorry, I uh, I got…”

Chuckling, Rigel gave the heaving purple mass next to him a playful elbowing that sent it swaying gently back and forth – and which also got the shiny pink mouse’s brief attention.

“Some kind of genetic hybridization, probably a little like what happened to you I guess? Only organic instead of silicone-based. Also alcoholic.”

A heavy snort set the giant purple thing beside Rigel swaying gently, it also made the next answer quite a lot clearer sounding.

“W-wait, what?! Seriously? …can I try some?”

The question left Rigel jiggling a bit as he began laughing, looking down into the screen of his tablet and the video chat it was hosting even though the person he was talking to was literally providing the back rest for him at the moment. Somewhere up above there was a drone holding a tablet up that managed to get most of the immense badger’s face in frame, so the two of them were making it work.

“I mean, like… I can get some sent down sure. I can just give it to one of the drones, right? Getting it straight from the tap is a bit intimate for a former roommate though.”

There was a dull whine from somewhere up above, but it was interrupted by Rigel seeing the badger’s fluffy face mooshed in by a fully coated mouse hugging it and then ruffling his hair. Something which just got another giggle out of Rigel.

“Well they do seem to be taking good care of you down here at least.”

Rigel could feel the chuckle through the badger’s smooth textured body before he even heard it.

“Yeah! It’s uh, it’s weird and all, but I mean – it’s also nice? And kind of… fulfilling. I mean, I can try to go into that if you want, but it doubles down on the weird.”

Watching the badger try to look embarrassed while he fidgeted with just his cheeks, impressive in its own right, left Rigel laughing a bit harder than he intended. It didn’t seem to bother the badger overmuch though, Samuel weathered it while letting the mouse stuff a few cupcakes into his loose and wobbling jowls (not that he had much choice).

“Go for it man, weird is getting to be kind of normal. Sort of.”

There was a moment where Rigel saw the badger go kind of vacant, during which he saw the mouse touching some of the purple-coated bits of him. It was brief, but as soon as it ended Samuel snapped to attention as if he’d dozed off.

“Ngh- that – w-oh! Heh. It uh, they’re… I mean, we’re kind of… family? A little. Everything is just open, all our hearts are on our sleeves for each other, and they take care of me – and each other – and all of you. In my case because I’m sort of a queen?”

Steadfastly failing to keep a straight face, Rigel found himself wiggling a bit against Samuel’s enormous middle and smacking his hand on the ground in an effort to maintain.

“Yup! Sort of, entirely. I bet they could find a dress that goes with your new color.”

A cupcake wrapper came floating down after that, landing atop Rigel’s nose and leaving him snuffling it off while he watched the mouse come back into frame, looking triumphant.

“I’m not the only one with a new color!”

Finally getting some kind of hold on himself, Rigel still couldn’t help grinning through his swollen cheeks.

“Fair. Heh. Hwurph. Ooph… always tastes like fruit when I do that now, and yeast. I – oop, wait a sec, getting a message.”

Rigel squinted at the screen of his tablet, using the end of his sleeve to wipe a bit of blue mist off it and only half succeeding as the sticky substance smeared a little. It was a message, one that he wished was in larger font or something, or that his screen would brighten a bit, but apparently the room had strict rules about light sources and the tablets knew that.

“Meeting… in. Oh. New students coming in, asking if I wanna go watch the ceremony with the – oh jeez.

For a moment Rigel considered it, but as he shifted himself where he sat a little he realized that with the soft and yielding wall of flesh he was resting against and nothing useful to leverage himself on he was going to need help getting up. He could probably convince Samuel to talk to a drone or two to do that, but in all honesty he didn’t want to leave so soon.

Luckily, other ideas presented themselves.

Hey! I’m visiting Samuel right now in the underworks. Think you could stream for us from there? I wanna see this but even if I thought I could get off my butt right now I doubt I’d make it in time, and I don’t want to bail on him. Honestly, I think he’d like to watch too, if that’s okay? Give him a little slice of normal again, help him keep centered.

A couple of moments passed before a quick ‘bing’ sound answered, and Rigel smiled once more and tilted his head back.

“Hey Sam, open this video feed I’m about to send you.”