PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

[ricksybusiness]

INTRODUCTION. It's difficult to tell time without the presence of a sun or moon. There are no stars. The world is in constant blackness, the heavens barely visible from below and the only light artificial. It's been like this for months. Suddenly, those who expressed interest in observing the sun (or lack thereof) will all at once receive a text message on their ALASTAIR jewellery from 82736775: Get your shit and go look at the sky. Now's the time. If you need me, I'm around. It's time to get to work. OBSERVATION. Find the highest point you can and point the telescopes at the sky. Should be easy, right? Be mindful that there are still guards patrolling the city, looking for escaped prisoners, and some citizens would be very happy to tip them off to your presence. There are still animals in the forests to contend with, and there are still nosey citizens who may ask you too many questions. There are also your fellow ALASTAIR agents, who may not be very willing to share the spot they already staked out before you just showed up. People and animals aren't all you need to look out for, either. Seven hours after the observation starts, there is a lightning storm. It lasts for 30 minutes, bolts of electricity arcing across the sky. It might be a good idea to scurry down someplace lower when this happens -- you know what they say about lightning and height. 82736775 doesn't contact anyone after the initial text, so observers are free to give up whenever they decide they've been sitting out in the freezing dark for long enough. [ note: even if you didn't sign up, feel free to tag in! your character won't have a telescope but that doesn't mean they can't mingle. ]

[ previously: ic info | ooc info ]
[ direct questions here! ]

Comments

Keats | Open

[headlining]

A

[Keats may be no astronomer, but he's incredibly excited for this. Finally, not only is this a way to help prove all these magical mumbo-jumbo theories wrong with pure science and logic, but he has the chance to investigate for clues, which is simply a reporter's bread and butter.]

[Bulky telescope resting on his shoulder, he moves along the streets, eyes scouring for a high place, but as the night goes on, he finds that every spot he sees has already been taken by another volunteer. His annoyance grows with every failure to find a place, and finally, he manages to climb up to a space on a rooftop, only to find that, surprise surprise, that place has been taken to.]

[He drops the telescope with a loud clunk, bending forward to try to catch his breath.]

Oh, come on! This place, too? [He lets out a frustrated sigh.] Honestly, damn my luck...this is harder than I thought.


B

[Lady Luck finally decides to smile on Keats for the first time this night, however, and he manages to set up his telescope with a bit of grumbling. It takes a bit of adjustment, but he manages to get it pointing up at the sky. That wasn't too hard.]

[And now, to see if all of this running around has actually been worth something. Keats pushes his glasses up on his forehead, leaning in to peer through the lens, and-]

Oh, come here, come here, take a look at this! [He calls over to whoever might be nearby, gesturing for them to come over.] Look through the telescope - I can't see it that well, what do you think those are?

[If one peers through the telescope, one can see very faint lights, like stars, in the night sky.]


C

[Annnnd of course it would rain. Of course. And lightening, to boot. Even though Keats is able to get to lower ground, he only manages to find shelter near the end of the storm, and everything from the top of his head to his boots are absolutely soaked.]

[He can be found near the edge of town, sitting on a log across a small pile of sticks and trash, which is has been set ablaze by a small, hearty fire. (It's far away from anything flammable - Keats isn't going to risk burning the town or forest down if he can help it). Hopefully, the fire will help him to dry up after that storm, though as he unlaces his boots to dump the water out, he realizes that drying out may take quite a while.]

[Anyone else who's looking for a place to hang out after the storm may join him and the soggy grumpy mess that he currently is.]


D

[WILDCARD it up! Throw whatever prompt you want at me, you can PM me here or PP me at plurk at vampirize!]

A

[runningjoke]

Yes. I got here first, this is my spot. Maybe you should have looked before you climbed up here. Now shoo, I don't need you interrupting.

[ Sorry Keats, were you expecting someone to give you a bit of a break? Maybe some sympathy??? Wrong. ]

[headlining]

[Wow, he's already annoyed by this....small green woman...]

[Don't mind him, he's just going to stare for a brief moment before shaking his head. Right. Maybe it's the lack of light or something, he can't be seeing this.]

How long have you even been here? Maybe you could, I don't know, take a break?

[runningjoke]

I've been here since the call went out. So that makes it at least fifteen minutes before you showed up.

[ HEY, she at least is not small right now, still equipped with her limb enhancers. Which means her hands are not quite hands, but metallic wrists with five floating pellets as her "fingers". She starts walking towards Keats, in which the other will see that no, it is not the strange lighting that is making her green. ]

I'm not giving up this spot. Go be useless somewhere else.

[headlining]

[He is like six feet tall and naturally assumes everyone is smaller than him okay!! SHUSH.]

[The weird floating "fingers" catch his eye, and although curious, he has to deal with the task at hand: that is, she wants him to go away, and he's not going to have any of that after a whole night of running.]

[He gives her an annoyed look, before picking up the telescope to start setting it up.]

Well, I'm not in the mood to leave, so guess you'll have to learn the art of sharing.

A!! i hope it's ok if i do this prompt uwoo... if not i'll pick another

[ninmu]

[ he likes high places. Maybe because it's as close to flying as he can get without expending the energy - Gun-Swordsmen are built for the skies, and he feels most comfortable up in the air. Thus, it's not completely random that Melan is up there, even though he has no telescope. The large blue android is silent, staring off into the distance, contemplating whatever it is that he contemplates when he has nothing pressing to do. Marin, probably.

Then Keats comes and ruins his peaceful silence. Thanks a lot, Keats. ]

Sorry. [ he's apologizing but he's not sure what he's done wrong?? he's just sort of staring at Keats in confusion, face expectant. ] Is this your house?

[headlining]

[You're welcome, large....person with a strange blue suit...]

[Keats just stares for half a minute, blinking behind his large glasses.]

Uh. No. [The confusion gets pushed aside - he's seen jumping scarecrows and monsters and tall Faery Lords (all of which were totally in his own mind), so clearly, this is just another hallucination his brain has served him on a silver plate. No biggie. Just deal with it the way he deals with everything else: casual talk with a hint of skepticism.]

I don't live here. [He bends down to pick up his telescope.] I'm here to do some telescope work, actually. You're, not, uh, doing that too, are you?

[ninmu]

[ um excuse you, he's not magic, he's 100% genuine Science Bullshit okay!!

the staring doesn't bother Melan; he's used to it. IN fact, he's grateful that it doesn't end with yelling or hitting. Why this man was getting upset about him being on the roof when it wasn't his house and he's apparently not perturbed by his appearance, he doesn't know, but he decides it's not pertinent information, gently shaking his head. ]

No. But there isn't much to see in the sky. You will have a difficult time.

[headlining]

Ah, we'll see about that, won't we?

[He holds the telescope up to show to the other, before glancing around for a suitable place to put it. Ah. That corner should do. He walks over and starts setting it up.]

Perhaps I'll get lucky.

C

[satsujinki]

['Of course' was the phrase of the day, it seemed. When Keats settled down to empty his boots, they were the first words to leave Shiki's mouth.]

Of course.

[With whatever luck was left after he had been cursed by some strange deity, Shiki stood just across from Keats on the other side of the flaming log. He had his jacket over his head, held aloft to protect him from the rain. They both had the same idea.]

[headlining]

[When Keats sees just who exactly has approached, he can't help but allow an expression that says "oh, it's you cross his face. Shiki isn't exactly his favorite person.]

Got wet, too? [He says, turning over his boot and letting the water drip onto the ground.] What were you doing outside? Thought you were a hermit and all.

[satsujinki]

I made an active decision to prove to myself that not doing favors for other people is definitely the right course of action.

[It was a jab at both himself and Keats. Shiki had no qualms with taking himself down to destroy another.]

[headlining]

Wow, good for you!

[Sarcasm tinges every word from his mouth, and he doesn't even look back at him as he makes quick work on unlacing his other boot.]

What's next, are you going to write a book on it?

c...........................

[winces]

[ this is probably not helping the cold she definitely still doesn't have, nope, not at all.

which basically means: it's a wonder this woman is still alive. drenched much like keats is, though with less layers to worry about drying, a miserable-looking olivia slowly wanders his direction before she can even stop herself. she'd had a similar idea to start a fire, her position during the storm placing her too far out of the town to even think about making the journey back into the abel inn and change. when she sees a fire already started, she unconsciously gravitates towards it like a moth.

once she sees who's grumbling on the other side of it, her eyes flutter a bit in recognition, slowly dragging herself out of that hazy, zombie-like state she'd been in. ]

Oh — Mr. Keats.

[ a pause. ]

Are you okay?

[headlining]

Hm?

[He looks up, eyes widening in recognition.]

Olivia? [He might be in a terrible state, but she looks far worse, what with walking around with few layers of clothing in the cold winter air.]

[He doesn't stand up or move, but he freezes, one hand still holding the boot he's about to dump rainwater out of. His eyebrows crease together. After a pause, he speaks again:]

Oh, for heaven's sake. [He gestures for her to come closer, tipping the boot over and letting the water run out.]

Come closer to the fire. Unless you want to get a nasty case of hypothermia.

[winces]

[ a sniffle, but she looks hesitant. ]

You really don't mind?

[ she eyes that fire a little longingly. just a few minutes, maybe, she'll feel better after a few minutes. ]

[headlining]

Nobody's stopping you.

[He says, almost offhandedly, as he moves to unlace his other boot to take it off. She can do whatever she likes.]

b

[nicearms]

[ Everyone and their mom is out with a telescope tonight. It's a lot more engaging to bounce between them and shoot the shit than stay rooted in one spot with his own. He'd probably go nuts with boredom if he had to... hate to wish that on anyone else. ]

[ So when Keats excitedly beckons him over (probably without looking up, let's be real) Sigma raises his eyebrows for a second, but trots over all the same. He's got at least one good eye, might as well put it to use if there's progress being made! ]

[ Or... well, sort of progress. Maybe? In this scenario, Light + Sky = Progress, and it's more than they've seen in a long while, but there's so little of it here, squinting into the telescope's eyepiece... ]

Alright, I'm not saying it's aliens, but...

[headlining]

It's not aliens. Don't be ridiculous.

[He says, a little to quickly,like he just wants them to stop talking about the subject even before they have really started. He's a logical guy - UFO's are not on his list of topics he likes to acknowledge or talk about.]

But what do you think? They almost look like stars...

[nicearms]

I donno, with the kind of stuff I've been seeing around here I don't think I'd be as surprised as I should be.

[ Glancing up from the telescope, he nudges the guy in the shoulder with a grin. It's called a joke, Keats. Like funny, ha ha. ]

[ But okay, for this joyless old scrooge he'll give it some serious thought. ] ... Well, I've got a hunch it isn't a plane or a satellite, but you don't think it's weird that there's only a couple of them?

WOW I JUST DISCOVERED THIS NOTIF i'm sorry!

[headlining]

[UFOS ARE NOT LAUGHING MATTERS, SIGMA!]

That is rather strange. And they're not moving, right? They haven't changed position? If they haven't, then they're stars...perhaps. Though I have the hunch that they aren't.

A

[powerdriven]

[ even if Keats refused to acknowledge the application of magic in speeding up the task, there were always those among their recruits for whom magic was no factor in scaling rooftops. perhaps he simply wasn't aware of that. but either way, once he had his eyes set on it, there was no chance of beating him to it—as Levi has taken to these rafters in a hair of the time one might take to give the high wall a decent climb.

from where he peers at Keats, still getting a decent lay of his surroundings, his own bulky telescope is still sticking out of the bag clinging to his back in its size. kept there so that it wouldn't interfere with his flight, so to speak. though unbeknownst to the intruder, he already came and went from several other makeshift perches. perhaps this ease he has of finding a spot, then, is what makes him so ambivalent to the thought of passing it up. ]

What, really need to lay out some diagrams? [ Levi's eyes scan what appears a fairly stable rooftop. ] There's plenty of space up here, don't you think?

[headlining]

Yes, but-

[He has to catch his breath. He may have magic at his fingertips (which he does his best to ignore the existence of), but none of his various abilities involve being able to propel him up onto buildings. He has to do that the old-fashioned way: through climbing.]

[He raises a hand to push back the strands of hair hanging in his face. grimacing slightly.]

I just like, ah, being by myself. I suppose.

[powerdriven]

[ well... fair enough. he'd prefer that himself given the option, even if he adjusts out of practicality. at least, it's his own prerogative if Keats wants to go to the effort to climb some more buildings just so he can be alone. but he thinks practicality just may compel them both in this instance.

Levi places his triggers in their holsters, throwing the heavy bag on his back around to his lap. instead of outright addressing what Keats has told him, he looks between him and the telescope. ]

I need help with this contraption. How much do you know about it?

[headlining]

Oh, the telescope? [His eyebrows furrow together, glancing at the one he dropped unceremoniously on the ground a few minutes before.]

Not too much, but I've used one in the past. [It isn't difficult, if he remembers correctly. He bends down to pick it up before glancing back at Levi.]

What do you need help with?