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

[headlining]

[He doesn't say anything when she sees that smile, instead turning away from her so that he can set up the telescope.]

What, yours? [He pauses as he thinks, before giving a somewhat flippant gesture to where she jumped on the roof.]

You may have left it on the street. You know, when you...well, you know.

[He's not even going to acknowledge that incident between them at all from now on, NOPE.]

[heavyhitter]

[ If he doesn't want to, Ramir's more than happy to instead. ]

Oh, yeah, when I caught your fragile little flailing body, right. [ She heads for the edge of the roof, peering over it down into the street. ] Hey, yeah, there it is! Thanks for the tip.

[headlining]

I'm tougher than I look.

[He replies, huffy, as he peers through the telescope and tries to set up a good view. He's not going to discuss this, nope.]

Whatever. Are you going to stargaze now, or what?

[heavyhitter]

Yeah, I guess so.

[ Honestly, the actual stargazing part seems pretty boring. She makes a face, then — steps off the ledge. That stopped being terrifying pretty fast after gaining her powers, then eventually stopped being exhilarating, too. She has to admit it's still pretty fun, though. She lands heavily on the ground, straightens up, and strides on to collect her telescope. Scouted back up to the rooftop: ]

Think I can get the angle right this time? Now accepting bets!

[headlining]

[He doesn't even care. She could've sprouted wings and turned into a fairy and he just wouldn't find a single ounce of emotion to feel surprised. Okay, she can jump down and jump up really high. Great. Good for her.]

[He scowls, even though she can't see it, and raises his voice so she can hear.]

No bets! The only bet I would make is that any bets with you would result in you trying to get another kiss out of me, or something equally silly.

[heavyhitter]

Yeah, right. I did that already, I don't do the same trick twice!

[ That's a lie, she does the same trick as many times as it's still hilarious. He doesn't need to know that, though. She crouches, gauges the distance, makes an attempt to gauge her own strength (still basically just guesswork), and springs upward. It is a little better this time, and she lands with a brief wobble pretty near to where she'd jumped off. ]

Nice.

[ That's where she immediately drops her telescope, uninterested in it as soon as it's in the general vicinity, and heads for where Keats has set up his. ]

So, spot anything good yet?

[headlining]

Sure you don't.

[He's not going to trust you as far as he can throw an anvil, Ramir. He only glances at her briefly when she lands, before returning to the CLEARLY IMPORTANT task at hand : trying to see something through the damn telescope.]

No, not yet. I'm still adjusting it. It takes a bit of time to get it ready.

[heavyhitter]

[ It doesn't bother her in the slightest to be totally disregarded. She makes a habit of being an asshole to people, she gets a lot of cold shoulders. She makes her way to stand next to him, kicks some snow off the ground of her chosen perch, and drops down into a seat on the edge when she's got it mostly bare. She even gets him a little while of silence to set up in, if he wants it.

But eventually: ] Think we're gonna find anything? That all looks pretty... empty.

[headlining]

[He appreciates the silence. He thinks he spots something, but it's hard to see with glasses clacking against the telescope while he does so. He pockets them, revealing a pair of dark eyes, and leans forward. He doesn't have the chance to look though, before she speaks up.]

Maybe we will, maybe we won't. [He looks up at the dark sky. Nothing has changed.] Maybe this telescope will see something we can't.

[heavyhitter]

[ Well that's not a very committed answer. Ramir tilts her head to stare up at the sky along with him, which is, of course, exactly as boring as she remembers it to be.

She holds out as long as she can, but she has to talk again sooner or later. Silences are just awful. ]

Hey, where're you from? What kinda world?

[headlining]

I'm from a strange magical land by the name of Ireland, if you couldn't tell by the accent.

[He says, deadpan, his expression as flat as can be as he pulls away from the telescope again.]

I'm from Earth. Why, where are you from, Mars?

[heavyhitter]

[ It takes her a second to place Ireland, until she realizes she has to narrow the scope of her recollection. Country, right, not planet. She's got it now. ]

No, Spodea. It's over in Alpha Centauri. But actually I was just on Earth before I got here, so we're practically neighbors.

[headlining]

...So you're an alien.

[He says, as unimpressed as someone reading that the sky was discovered to be blue.]

Really.

[heavyhitter]

I mean, technically. But you mean non-human, right? [ She snorts. ] Hell no, 100% human. What, did you think humans were just gonna stay on Earth after we figured out there were other places to be?

[headlining]

Yes, but space travel hasn't even gotten to that point yet. At least, where I come from. Even going to the moon was a one time thing that never happened again.

[He scratches his cheek, still looking dubious.]

...What's that place like? Alpha Centauri, or whatever it's called.

[heavyhitter]

What, the entire system? [ she rolls her eyes. he sure sounds like someone that's never left Earth. A stupid generalized question, she decides, deserves a stupid unhelpful answer. ] It's like the Sol System but more binary.

[headlining]

[He realizes he should have been more specific - his expression sours.]

No, I meant, the place where you live. Spodea? Is it like Earth?

[heavyhitter]

[ there, that's better. ]

Yeah, comparatively. It's got seasons and weather, and stuff. But it's shittier, smaller, and soggier. Can't really recommend it.

[ well Earth has really made a positive impact on someone ]

[headlining]

Hmmph. And here scientists were thinking we wouldn't find an inhabitable planet like ours for the longest time.

[A thought occurs to him, and he can't help but grin - if it {possibly} might be the future where she comes from, then there's an important question he has to ask.]

No flying cars, though?

[heavyhitter]

[ that gets a grin, even before she glances up to see his. ]

Okay, real quick, what the fuck was the obsession with flying cars? They're in every old movie. Was that all people wanted out of the future?

[headlining]

[His grin grows wider.]

Beats me. I think it was just some idea people got into their heads of an invention that could only possibly exist in the future. Plus, being able to fly in a car wherever you like? Sort of a cool idea, when you think about it.

[heavyhitter]

I mean, it is cool. [ sorry, was that misleading, did you think that meant there were no flying cars ] All sorts of crafts fly. Cruisers and skimmers and shit, whatever you need. But it's way cheaper just to drive if you don't need actual altitude, sorry.

[headlining]

So you do have flying cars, of sorts? [YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST SAID THAT BEFORE] Huh. Well, I suppose that would make some sense, given the amount of energy and fuel it must take to keep one of those up.

...What about robot butlers?

[heavyhitter]

[ She rolls her eyes again, but this time reaches over to aim a (carefully light! but still probably painful) punch at his legs. ]

You're a fucking nerd.

[ which is not a no. ]

[headlining]

No, I'm not! Shut up. [He says, wincing away from that punch - how dare you call him a nerd, Ramir, WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO YOU???]

I'm just asking questions, honestly, that doesn't make me a nerd.